Swallowed the Moon
by The DayDreaming
Summary: Tsuna, worst magic-user ever, never thought he’d graduate from SAGE school. Unfortunately, he never thought he'd have to find his MIA father, deal with fallen princes, or wear cat ears, either. Swordsmen/bodyguards, bombers, and gunmen don't help.
1. Prologue: GoodBye

Swallowed the Moon

By: The DayDreaming

Warnings: Long author's not at the end. Pairings? I don't know. **THIS STORY IS NOT TSUNAxKYOKO!!! IT'S NOT, I SWEAR!!!** In fact, it'll probably be shonen ai, because I don't really like any of the girls except for Lal Mirch, and she's for Colonello. This story is also severely AU. Things will be explained in good time, if you wish for this story to continue.

Full summary: AU Tsuna, worst magic-user ever, never thought he'd graduate from Salence's Academy for the Genesic Empyrean. Hell, no one else thought he would either. Maybe once he starts experiencing life outside of SAGE school's halls, he'll want to return to that constant school daze for good. Conspiracies, fallen princes, and a quest to find his MIA father send Tsuna's once below-average life out of control. Pulled along for the ride, he can only hope that he's strong enough to stand against the odds alongside a carefree swordsman/bodyguard, an entirely too loyal bomber, and a curly-sideburned gunman. Scratch that; he's definitely going to die.

**O.o-oO0Oo-o.O**

_**PROLOGUE**_: Good-Bye

**O.o-oO0Oo-o.O**

"Thank you, Tsuna! It's soo cute!"**(1)**

At the praise, Tsuna immediately began to blush, fiddling with his fingers as Kyoko daintily flapped the blue ribbon about. She interestedly watched the thick, forked tails of the silky cloth flutter with just the slightest flick of her wrist.

"I-I thought it might look good on yo—I-I mean, it looked pret—w-well, y'know, me being a guy and all, I wouldn't really know, ah, um, um—"

"It looks nice, Tsuna. Thank you, very much," Kyoko quickly intervened, smiling softly at him, "I'll put it on my broom right away, once I get the chance. It'll look great!"

Tsuna gave a small, shy smile back towards her, internally grateful that she had cut him off mid-rant. Despite having known Kyoko well enough for a couple of years now, he still had trouble communicating with her past the level of a verbally-challenged five year old.

But, he couldn't help it. Kyoko Sasagawa had been his first crush, and would probably always remain so, making his heart flutter about just as much as that blue ribbon she was waving around. He had first lain eyes on her the day after he had come to Salencer's Academy for the Genesic Empyreal **(2)**, and had forever since been smitten by her charm, good looks, and unbidden kindness towards him.

Now, though, he might never see Kyoko again. It was finally graduation day at Salencer's, and all of the students who had passed successfully through the trials and tribulations of the Academy would be moving on to become apprentice magic-wielders, setting out to find their individual niches in the world.

Tsuna knew that he shouldn't be feeling sad; after all, he too was finally graduating, much to his disbelief. Tsuna, though he was loath to admit it, was a rather poor magic-user and student. No matter how much he tried, he could never match up to everyone else, and was always dead-last in everything. Where others could conjure fireballs in their hands with no effort at all, Tsuna could barely hold a spark alight for more than a few minutes. Where all the boys in his classes trained to become warrior-mages with the power to destroy armies and travel across thousands of miles in a matter of hours, Tsuna couldn't take down a little girl, let alone run a mile in under twenty minutes.

Everyone had always called him No-Good Tsuna, even his own family, much to Tsuna's chagrin. Tsuna tried, he really did; but deep down, he knew that he was a failure, through and through. But, not Kyoko. Kyoko would never call him '"No-Good," or laugh when he was the last person off the track, or make snide remarks when he received his work back, marked with large, vibrant red 'F's. She was sweet and kind, if not a bit air-headed, and always encouraged him to do his best, even when he came out the worst.

That's why Tsuna had been so relieved when he read that he had passed (just barely) all of his final exams, and would be graduating with the rest of his year; he was happy to hear Kyoko say, "I told you so," and smile kindly towards him.

He wanted so much to confess to her, spill out to her in the perfect words the great amount of gratitude and admiration he held towards her. He couldn't, though. Kyoko was too good and pure for someone as lousy as him; she flew in a completely different stratosphere from No-Good Tsuna.

The best Tsuna could do was give her a gift, in the hopes that it might remind her of him when they went their separate ways.

Tsuna was snapped out of his musings when Kyoko shoved a thin, rectangular box into his arms.

"Huuwha?" Tsuna asked eloquently, mentally slapping himself for sounding like such a dweeb while examining the white cardboard structure.

Kyoko giggled at him, "Open it, silly! It's my gift to you."

He blinked slowly at her, "Gift? What for?"

"Does there need to be a reason?" Kyoko asked quietly, eyes staring at him sadly, "You're a wonderful person Tsuna. That's enough reason in itself. I wish everyone else could see how great you are, including yourself."

Tsuna blushed again, feeling guilty for making Kyoko look like a kicked puppy. He quickly set about opening the box, tearing at the taped edges and peeling back the flimsy board.

"Um…ah, it's great Kyoko! Thanks! Uh…"

Tsuna wasn't quite sure what he was thanking her for. Residing in the box had been a long length of dirt-brown cloth, folded neatly into a square. He pulled it out, letting the fabric fall to reveal what looked to be a simple cloak with a rounded hood. Sitting atop the hood was a pair of what appeared to be stiff, rounded and concave disks.

Kyoko smiled brightly at him, "Well? Try it on!"

"Oh," Tsuna muttered, "Right." He set the box down and quickly pulled the cloak over his shoulders. It fell loosely around him, the edge of the silky fabric brushing against his ankles. Kyoko quickly swooped in once he had the cloak wrapped around his figure, tugging at the fabric around his neck and bunching it together, before quickly popping something out of her pocket and clipping it onto the material clenched in her fist.

Kyoko stepped away, beaming at her handiwork. Tsuna looked down at what she had clipped to the front of the cloak; a smooth, orange brooch gleamed back at him, seeming to almost glow with an inner fire.

"Ah," Tsuna muttered, staring in wonder at the shining stone, "Is it…?"

"Yup! It's a skystone. You know, they say that if you're in desperate need, a skystone will grant your deepest desire," Kyoko supplied, setting about straightening the cloak on his shoulders. Tsuna blushed at the contact, before quickly letting out a startled squeak when Kyoko yanked the hood up on the back of the cloak, draping it over the spiky locks of hair on his head. He had the distinct impression that the round disks connected to the offending piece of fabric were sticking straight up.

Kyoko practically squealed once she had finished her task, "It's soo cute! I knew you would look great in it, Tsuna!"

Tsuna merely stared at her blankly; he felt slightly out of the loop, as he often times did with most girls, including his mother. "Oh," Kyoko snapped her fingers, "Here…"

She dug around in the small purse hanging off her shoulder, frowning as she muttered something under her breath. After a couple of seconds of frantic searching, she procured a small, oval mirror and held it out to Tsuna, who hesitantly took it.

Looking into the mirrored glass, Tsuna let out a small noise of disdain, but tried to remain poker-faced as he thought of how excited Kyoko was to give the cloak to him. The cloak in itself was okay, a soft but sturdy fabric, good for traveling, but…wasn't sewing mouse ears onto the top a bit much?

"I look…"

"Ah-huh…?"

Tsuna wasn't sure he could lie through his disappointment, but he had already started his sentence; nothing to do but trudge on through the storm.

"…Ugly," he finished lamely.

Kyoko seemed bewildered at first, obviously expecting him to say something else; she pursed her lips before the words finally sank in; she gave a small, hurt frown, "No you don't. I think it looks perfect on you; better than anyone else, I would say."

"Yeah, but," Tsuna tried to reason through his words, softly fingering the ears atop his hood, "Ears? Aren't these for girls who want to make an, ahm, fashion statement?"

Kyoko still seemed a bit confused, "What do you mean? It's an enchanted cloak; I made it myself for my final exam in Enchantments and Incantations."

"Oh."

"Yeah," Kyoko continued, smile returning, "I got full marks for the charming I did on it. The cloak can channel your magic and keep you warm without a fire, and the ears can camouflage and transfigure you into a mouse."

"That's great, Kyoko," Tsuna said, prodding at the ears a bit more in wonder, "But why give it to me? It's special to you, right? You must have worked really hard."

"Because you're special, too," she evenly replied, taking back her mirror from Tsuna's loosely clasped hand, "I know that boys have to go on a quest or apprentice with someone to become a fully qualified mage. I've already got a job set up, but I hear that you're going back home. So, I figured that a traveling cloak as handy as this one would help you!"

Kyoko smiled at him; Tsuna melted under her gaze, and secretly wished that they wouldn't have to part so soon, "I want you to succeed, Tsunayoshi Sawada. You're a strong and wonderful person, even if people can't see it right now. I know you'll do great things.

"You're not 'No-Good;' you never were. I believe in you."

Tsuna could feel his eyes tearing up, Kyoko's image blurring in his line of sight. Not even his mother had spoken such kind words to him in years. Her words stood out in bright contrast to the layers of pitch-black ridicule and mocking. Tsuna knew that Kyoko wasn't lying; the utter sincerity in her voice and eyes spoke volumes.

Before he realized what he was doing, he had grabbed her around the shoulders and pressed her tightly to his chest. The hot sting of tears sloped down his cheeks and onto Kyoko's nice graduation-day blouse, but she didn't seem to mind, hugging him back just as tightly.

"Kyoko," Tsuna murmured, hood shadowing his eyes as he stared at the back of her head. He didn't want to let her go; it felt like he would be saying good-bye for good, missing the chance of a lifetime. But no, that wasn't fair to her. She deserved better. Tsuna pulled back from the tight embrace, looking into Kyoko's honey-brown eyes with determination that only she could pull from him, "You're special to me. I think that…it was you, who got me here today. I don't think I could have made it past the first year without your encouragement.

"Everything you say, everything you do, means the world to me. You're my first best friend, of all the people in the world. Even if…we have to say goodbye, and we don't see each other for a long time, I won't forget you."

Kyoko smiled kindly at him. Gods, Kyoko looked beautiful in her dress; Tsuna would remember.

She said, "I know."

**O.o-oO0Oo-o.O**

Tsuna didn't get to speak to Kyoko after that. She had quickly placed a slip of paper in his hand while scrubbing roughly at her eyes, before walking away to go get ready for the graduation ceremony.

Boys and girls were seated on opposite sides of the auditorium; even though Tsuna's name came right after hers, he didn't get a chance to speak to her. He did notice, though, that she clapped especially hard for him as he walked up to the principle, who was eyeing Tsuna with a look of disbelief as he exchanged the false diploma (the real one would be given out later) and shook hands with the boy who always came in dead-last. Everyone seemed a bit stunned, actually.

No-Good Tsuna beamed and blushed, and searched for his family in the crowd. They weren't there of course; he expected as much. Nana Sawada lived in a different country and his father hadn't made contact with him in over three years. They wouldn't possibly attempt to come to the most important day of their useless son's life, now would they?

Tsuna didn't let the disappointment show on his face. Instead, he trudged onwards, finishing the ceremony without falling asleep as he usually would, and making the last ever trip to his dorm to pick up his traveler's bag; it held all he would need for his journey home.

Tsuna trudged through the halls of the Academy that had occupied his life for the last four years now. He smiled fondly at the cranky old woman behind the desk in the reception hall. He remembered that she had been the first person to insult him on his first day at the magic-school, when he was twelve and terribly inept at moving his scrawny limbs around without knocking something over, like the receptionist's meticulously stacked pile of important documents.

He moved through the familiar glass doorway of the school, one of the Academy's most famous features for its enchanted qualities. It almost felt like a dream, standing at the doorsteps of the Academy that had swallowed him whole; he was sixteen, an apprentice magic-wielder, and heading home to face his future.

Tsuna wasn't quite sure what to do; he felt as though he were stepping off solid ground and straight over a cliff, falling fast and hard. He breathed deeply, trying to calm his madly beating heart. All he had to do, he told himself, was take the stairs down from Salence's Academy for the Genesic Empyreal, walk to the train station, buy a ticket, and wait on the train-ride for home.

It almost seemed too easy, this walking away business.

But no, it had to be this way. Everything seemed too easy once you were actually doing it, he thought to himself. He puffed out his cheeks, and then dug through his travel bag to procure Kyoko's cloak. He slipped it over himself, blushing slightly as he pulled the hood up, ears standing tall, before he pinned the front shut the skystone brooch. He hoped that wearing it would remind him of the courage and determination he had around Kyoko.

With a deep breath, he stuck out his tongue at the school's famous entry-way, and whipped his middle-finger out, thinking of every person that said he couldn't make it to where he was today.

He stood like that for a couple seconds before feeling decidedly embarrassed, quickly retreating his arms and face inside the dark comfort of his cloak.

Tsuna gave one final look to the prestigious SAGE school, and softly whispered, "Good-bye."

Tsunayoshi Sawada didn't look back.

**O.o-oO0Oo-o.O**

**(1)** They're not in Japan here, folks. No honorifics or saying surnames first, sorry. You'll find out where they are eventually.

**(2)** Salence's Academy for the Genesic Empyreal. Kind of a stretch, right? This will be hit upon later, but there is a hidden reason. First person to guess what the hell 'Genesic Empyreal' is gets an uber-Girl Scout cookie.

**O.o-oO0Oo-o.O**

Uh, hiya? You might be asking, if you've read down this far: "What the f!?&?"

My reply: No friggin' clue.

I guess I just got tired with all of the generic high-school fics and stuff floating around in this section. Most of the stories that update, I'm not interested in, and the ones that I am interested in, don't update nearly fast enough. I think some part of me was dying of boredom.

Another part of me really wanted a fantasy story that is well-written (not that I'm tooting my own horn. I know I'm far from good, I'm just saying that I like writing what I'm interested in, and what I'm interested in is not what people write.). I've been in a real Final Fantasy mood, especially FFX, and my retarded brain instantly supplied that hey, there are Guardians in both stories, and they like to fight, and they protect someone and yada, yada, yada.

Will this be fantasy-based? Yes. Will the Final Fantasy series be heavily drawn upon? Yes and no (depending on where the plot bunny takes me). Will it follow any FF storyline closely? Hell no. Will everyone be in the story? Hopefully. What's the pairing? No frickin' clue. It's not TsunaxKyoko, even if this prologue makes it seem that way, I swear!

Pairing-wise, I'm not a complete noob to this section so I know what the numbers and everything means. Truth be told, I've never written shonen ai, though I'd like to try. Why would I like to try here? Because I don't really like any of the girl pairings, and some of the shonen ai pairings make me squee. Basically, what I'm saying is, go ahead and volunteer pairings that you like (I'm partial to RebornxTsuna, SpannerxTsuna, and 8027, if you catch my drift). I can't promise that I'll write romance well, since it's not what the story is focused on, but I'll try.

I'm writing this for the fantasy elements; the Reborn! section needs more fantasy-based stuff, besides the boring vampire stories. I don't know if people will like this, but I'm not doing this for others; posting this will not only get this awful plot bunny off my chest, but also make me feel better about contributing to a fandom that I really like.

This is my first KHR fic, so sorry if everyone is OoC. I'll try my hardest to make a good story! There also won't be an ending not so long again (sorry!).

Please review and tell me if you want me to continue, I need to know so that I can figure out where to go with this. The DayDreaming out!


	2. Footsies

Swallowed the Moon

By: The DayDreaming

Warnings: AU Slight language. Minimal knowledge of how trains work? Crappy descriptions of radios? Confusion and perverts. Lots of foreshadowing.

Full summary: AU Tsuna, worst magic-user ever, never thought he'd graduate from Salence's Academy for the Genesic Empyrean. Hell, no one else thought he would either. Maybe once he starts experiencing life outside of SAGE school's halls, he'll want to return to that constant school daze for good. Conspiracies, fallen princes, and a quest to find his MIA father send Tsuna's once below-average life out of control. Pulled along for the ride, he can only hope that he's strong enough to stand against the odds alongside a carefree swordsman/bodyguard, an entirely too loyal bomber, and a curly-sideburned gunman. Scratch that; he's definitely going to die.

Disclaimer: Katekyo Hitman Reborn! and its characters belong to Amano Akira, not me. This is the only time I'm going to say it.

_This chapter has not been edited for mistakes. If there are any, please notify me and I'll try to rectify the situation whenever I get off my lazy ass._

**O.o-oO0Oo-o.O**

_**Chapter 1**_: Footsies

**O.o-oO0Oo-o.O**

The train station was old and deserted; the once pristine exterior, reminiscent of a cathedral at one point, was now dilapidated and held a decidedly gothic feel. All train stations were like this nowadays, Tsuna knew. Trains were falling out of style, replaced by better alternatives like airships or the rare, extremely expensive, four-wheeled motor vehicle.

Tsuna never really liked waiting at the train station; it often brought up bad memories of him endlessly waiting for his father to show up on holidays or birthdays. Nevertheless, he sat resolutely while listening for the tell-tale thumping of large, grinding wheels on metal track. Bored to tears, he passed the time by shining a small, green spark in-between his open palms. It was a healing spell; though not much use for any injuries larger than a paper-cut, it came in handy when he was trying to hone his magic skills (the very little he owned, anyways), and wouldn't hurt him if he managed to make it back-fire.

He had started to try to juggle three of the tiny green sparks (this was exceptionally difficult because he could barely conjure more than two at a time, and he didn't really know how to juggle), when the train rattled into the station, an empty car coming to a heavy, sighing halt in front of him. An old, tired looking man opened the doors and motioned for Tsuna to hand him his ticket before punching a hole in the flimsy paper with a pair of rusted punchers.

Tsuna quietly thanked him and made a beeline for the interior of the cart; outside, the weather looked to be gearing up for a nasty storm, and was currently blowing a sharp, cool wind across the abandoned train station.

Tsuna seated himself in a worn booth, the glass on the windows lined with spider-cracks and the cushions on the benches a bit too patched up to be presentable. He rested his head against the window, almost regretting it when he felt the sticky surface against his temple, but resigned himself to the fact that everywhere he put his head on this train would be sticky and unpleasant.

It would be a long ride; that, he knew. His old house, the first destination on his decidedly minimal list, was at least a thousand miles away from SAGE's cloistered halls.

"Four years…," Tsuna muttered to himself, watching as thick steam pin-wheeled by the window. The train was preparing to move forward. Somehow, Tsuna felt the immense urge to run out of the cart and onto the dilapidated waiting-platform; a sort of numbing fear gripped at his chest, and a part of him felt like he was making a huge mistake. Earlier, walking away had felt almost too easy to him, like it should have been a lot harder. Now, he realized, the ease of walking was replaced by the suffocating finality of sitting still.

Four years felt like an eternity. The only thing that seemed to run through Tsuna's mind was, 'Oh gods, I'm sixteen. Four years, four years, four-fuckin'-years. I'm sixteen and I feel like a fucking four-year-old.'

Would anyone recognize him? Would anyone remember him? Would anyone know who he was? Did they miss him? Did his mother miss him? Was his father home? Would they want him home in the first place? Why hadn't his mother come to his graduation? Would anyone realize that No-Good Tsuna was alive and well and sitting on some wobbly train, spazzing out in one of the empty carts over absolutely nothing?

The train gave a lurch, and Tsuna released the tight grip he had on his hair. He dry-heaved at the sight of the small train station as it passed by in a quickening blur, the locomotive picking up speed, one more lost soul burdening its dingy interior.

It was all worrying for nothing, he told himself. If nothing else, his mother would recognize and welcome him with open arms. The ditzy woman held not a care in the world, it seemed, and would allow anyone into her abode as long as they were hungry for a home-cooked meal and willing to share his or her tale with the rest of the varied tenants of the house.

Tsuna sighed. Somehow, just sitting here almost felt like too much for him. Going home? Though the thought had crossed his mind many times while he resided at the academy, his plans had never come to fruition. Going home had meant failure to him for so long. Now, it suddenly meant that he had succeeded in making something of himself, even if it only meant not being a total failure. It felt wrong, and Tsuna wished that he could make up his mind and stop regretting every waking moment of his life.

Resigning himself to the heavy silence that descended upon the cart as the train bolted along the railway tracks, Tsuna allowed his mind to wander further on his indecision for the next couple of hours. He fell into a heavy daze, head resting against the sticky glass of the window.

He did not feel himself sob.

**O.o-oO0Oo-o.O**

Tsuna jolted awake as the door to his cart slid open, admitting what had first appeared to be wrinkled, shrunken ghosts into the compartment. Upon further inspection by Tsuna's sleep addled brain, he realized that the strange pair were in fact an old couple, huddled together over a couple of bags and blankets stacked atop their thin arms, gold wedding bands glinting slightly on knobbled fingers.

The old gentleman, in a ragged, tweed suit, helped the old woman, his partner, down onto a bench a couple rows down from Tsuna's own lonely perch. As the man sat down with a defined creak and groan, he fiddled with something in one of the bags, pulling out a relatively new-looking radio set.

Radios were expensive, Tsuna knew, especially the ones small enough to be carried around. This one seemed to be second-hand, the parts apparently new, but slightly cracked and dented, a couple pieces of tape lining the display for the receiver dial.

The old woman looked towards him, smiling warmly with her soft lips, "I hope you don't mind."

Tsuna shook his head, mouth sealed shut by a dry crust he was too lazy to lick apart, watching with little interest as the old man banged the radio with his worn fist a couple of times before the thing sputtered to life, static streaking through the air. The man fiddled the dial, and a coherent voice erupted through the cart; rich velvety tones from a little-known songstress pooled over Tsuna's ears and he allowed himself to relax down into his sun-warmed bench once again.

Tsuna lulled himself into a daze, temporary excitement washed away by a bone-deep exhaustion that only came when riding for long distances on the rattling trains.

The radio continued its serenade and the old timers hummed along before, eventually, they too fell asleep.

It continued like this for a while; the occupants of the cart falling asleep and waking up every few hours; the strangers changing the station every time they pulled themselves into consciousness. Tsuna enjoyed the broken bits of music that mingled through his half-conscious daze; he hadn't gotten to listen to any actual music with lyrics and a beat for months, not since the only record player in the boys' wing of the school had been confiscated.

Tsuna was mumbling his way through a particularly unpleasant dream involving what seemed to be pineapples and birds having a fight to the death, a ruffled, brown-feathered bird whose wings had been broken, falling over the side of what appeared to be a balcony on a high castle while a shadowed pineapple watched from above, when he was rudely awoken by the radio squawking a static-y screech.

He bolted up, clutching his chest, as his brown cloak fell softly from his shoulders. The old couple a few rows down were also awake, tuning the discordant radio. The train was dark, the gleam of stars and a waxing moon illuminating the small cart. Tsuna glanced over as the pair muttered an 'aha' of triumph in unison when the radio became relatively clear, though still heavily interrupted by static.

"—_mori…I repe--…hostile takeover o--…Residents are warned to rem--…State of the royal fam--…is unclear at thi--…signs of a brawl clear--…prince's room. Kokuyo, i--…mori's neighboring coun--…the attackers. Ple--… calm. I repeat…"_

The message continued on like this, Tsuna's stomach feeling like it had migrated to his throat. Though the news didn't have a particular meaning to him, the tone it carried made a heavy weight appear on his shoulders. Something bad was happening, people were getting hurt; Tsuna felt sick knowing that he was glad that it wasn't him, but some other people he didn't know, miles away from his moving prison.

"_This ju--…in. The bod--…of the royal family--…hung on the gates--…entrance to the capital.—rince is--…where to be foun--.--…yal guard has disapp--…well."_

The radio was switched to a different frequency with a soft creak of the dial. The old man sighed.

"Bad news," the old woman muttered, leaning her head against the man's shoulder, "Best not listen to such depressing affairs."

The lofty notes of a sugary pop singer filled the compartment.

The old man turned towards Tsuna, concern on his shadowed face, "You okay, young man? No one you knew over there, right?"

"Yeah," Tsuna mumbled, voice small and timid in the dark. His mind kept playing over the message, a broken record. The last part had been disturbing, to be sure. It seemed like the entire royal family had been killed and strung up somewhere around the capital city (wherever this country was; he hadn't managed to catch the name). Not only that, but the prince was missing, as well as the royal guard. Had they escaped the horrible fate of the royals?

Tsuna thought back to his dream, the words of the desperate-sounding radio message mingling with the phantom aroma of pineapples and cherry blossoms, while a hostile bird sung its death-warble.

**O.o-oO0Oo-o.O**

Things hadn't changed much.

The road leading into the town proper was still dusty and lined with weathered stones. The front walk still looked pristine, faded chalk drawings by the neighborhood kids lining the beaten path. The grass was still cut short, articles of clothing hanging limply on taut clotheslines in the front yard (odd pieces of leather, armor, and varying sizes of undergarments all too present). The brass doorknob at the front entrance still gleamed.

Tsuna felt like an idiot, just standing there and trying to see out the wrong end of the peephole. With a sigh, he dredged up all of his courage, and knocked on the door.

He almost bolted after the loud sounded resounded throughout the cool enclosure of the porch. He gulped; what if his mother had moved away? Maybe that's why she didn't respond to his graduation invitation. Maybe she didn't want anything to do with her no-good son once she was finally rid of him. Maybe this was the wrong address, and he was about to make himself open to some murderer-rapist that lived just across the street from his mother and was probably in need of some new, tender boy-flesh—

"Hello?"

Or maybe it just took a couple of seconds for his mother to reach the door.

Tsuna smiled nervously up to the sweet face of his mother, fingers twitching minutely. Nana's angelic face stared in confusion for a moment, taking in the sight of a spindly-limbed, haggard-looking teen, soft, spiky brown hair slightly drooping while weary eyes stared back at her, darting around to look anywhere but her own gaze.

"Tsuna…?" she muttered lowly, stepping away from the doorway, reaching her hand out to cup the boy's cheek, "Is it really…?"

"Mom…" he whispered back, eyes finally looking at her fully. Four years hadn't changed Nana, but in that span of time, Tsuna had been altered significantly.

He smiled a bit more openly as realization dawned on the sweet woman's face, before finding the air knocked out of him as he was engulfed in a bone-crushing hug.

"It really is you!" she said, almost lifting him off the ground in her elation. Tsuna gurgled in his throat at the lack of air, and she immediately let him down, hands still firmly clamped on his meager biceps through the soft brown material of his cloak. All too quickly, the air around Nana seemed to grow thick and dark; the gleam in her eye spoke of fathomless anger.

"Where have you been?! No letters, no phone calls; you never came to visit! You disappeared off the face of the earth after going to that school!" Nana gritted out, hold on his arms tightening.

Tsuna stared, mouth agape, at the angry woman. She looked absolutely demonic. Gathering his wits, Tsuna stuttered out, "W-What do you mean? I w-wrote to you every other week!"

And he had. The distance between home and the Academy had been bothersome. Instead of taking the long, five-day ride on the train every time a special holiday or event came around, Tsuna would write letters to his mother, send her trinkets and pictures in the mail, or attempt to call her (though this occurred rarely since phones were expensive to use, and the call never seemed to go through, anyways).

He had to have at least written three hundred letters to her over his four-year absence. Was she implying that she had not received a single one of those letters? That none of his birthday gifts to her had been obtained and opened? That didn't make sense. He knew for sure that someone sent him money to use as allowance every month, that someone mailed him small gifts on his birthday and other gift-receiving holidays, that someone wrote him replies to his letters (though these replies were far and in-between); everything had been signed to be from Nana Sawada.

What the hell, Tsuna thought, eyeing his mother as she sunk down and gathered him in her arms and held his head to the crook of her neck. What's going on?

"You didn't even get the invitation to my graduation?" Tsuna mumbled into her clavicle, the thumping of her heart loud in his ears.

"Nothing! You don't know how much trouble you're in, mister," Nana said, rubbing circles on his back and rocking herself into a stupor.

**O.o-oO0Oo-o.O**

Nana hadn't been serious about him being in trouble. Far from trouble, in fact. After calming herself down over her 'long-lost' son, she had invited him in and demanded he tell her of everything that had happened, how school was going, and why he was home.

As he had walked inside, Tsuna took note of the many boots and shoes lining the foyer; there must have been a lot of company. Nana had set about preparing a grand feast in her tiny, spotless kitchen while Tsuna helped her out, expounding upon his 'adventures' at the academy while cutting carrots up for a stew (nicking himself more often than not). He didn't even realize that he had yet to put away any of his bags or take off his cloak; he trailed dust across the gleaming linoleum floor.

Nana had stopped kneading the dough for a fresh batch of bread in order to hug her son energetically when he told her of his graduation, getting flour all over his mouse-earred cloak. He also had to explain the embarrassing gift Kyoko had given him.

Realizing that Tsuna was only ruining her kitchen and bloodying the carrots, his mother ordered him to go clean up, shooing him away with a dough-encrusted hand, and smiling euphorically.

Tsuna sighed as he escaped the death-trap of a kitchen, fingering the bloody cuts on his fingers while licking his dry lips, throat parched, thinking about whether it would be too much trouble to try and attempt to heal his minor wounds with a spell that might just blow up in his face.

It was strange to realize how tiring it was to talk to his mother, to tell about everything that he had thought he already told her through ink and paper. He felt like a misbegotten twelve-year-old again, trying to tell a long and complicated story to his mother about why he had a scraped knee while trying to help and only making everything worse for her. How had none of his letters gotten through? How had he seemingly not made contact with her for over four years?

Tsuna shook his head, feeling the tight pinch of a headache form at the back of his mind. He needed to lie down and sleep. Despite dozing for long periods of time on the train, he still felt exhausted and weary after five days of sitting still and doing nothing.

He passed the sitting room and saw the backs of several heads lining the various couches and chairs. He didn't bother to greet them, plowing ahead to his old room.

The stairs creaked under his feet, a familiar yet forgotten sound in his ears. He remembered being able to avoid every single creaky spot on the stairs, once upon a time. Now, he could barely remember which steps creaked at all. It was weird, he decided, as he reached the door to his room. The paint on the door had been maintained, the brass knobs glinting in the dark of the second-story hallway.

He felt nervous to step into his room again, but as he swung the familiar door open, nostalgia hit him full force.

Everything was where he had left it. Shining and gleaming in the early-afternoon sun falling through the large window across from the door, the furniture held an old glow that he recalled faintly as being caused by a specific brand of cleaner used by his mother to wax all of the wood in the house. He stepped fully into the room, breathing in the scent of oranges and pine.

It was just how he knew it shouldn't have been. Everything should have been old and dusty, caked in a layer of grime and broken from disuse. It should have smelt of age and moth balls. He almost choked at the thought that his mother kept cleaning the room in the hopes that her son would come back someday, that she hadn't let anyone have the room because it belonged to someone else, permanently.

He let his traveler's bag fall to the clean wood flooring while he undid his cloak, the skystone brooch glinting in his hand as he dropped it onto a cluttered dresser. The stand was covered in jars and glasses of all sizes, containers filled with marbles and buttons he had collected as a child and left behind as he moved on in the world. He picked up a corked jar wistfully, watching the colorful buttons as they rattled in the glass prison. Glancing further across the desk, he spotted a few new bottles that he didn't remember ever having, filled with more tiny baubles. Had his mother continued to collect things for him?

He smiled, removing the rest of his clothing and changing into his last clean pair of clothes, a thin shirt and cotton shorts. Coming home, he decided, wasn't such a bad idea, even if it felt like he had taken a step back in time.

He fell into his old, almost too-small bed with a satisfied grunt, reveling in the scent of more oranges emitted from his comforters.

Being home was good.

**O.o-oO0Oo-o.O**

Sitting at a table with seven other strangers was just as awkward as Tsuna remembered it being. Perhaps because he had grown unused to sitting with other people during his time at the academy (no one wanted to sit at the same table as No-Good Tsuna, and Kyoko sat with her friends), or because there was a man sitting across from him, in his late twenties, that kept leering at Tsuna over a bowl of mashed potatoes and trying to touch Tsuna's bare legs with his feet.

Nana smiled jovially at her son while talking with a blonde-haired woman sitting beside her, remarking absently on the current topic of which kind of salve was better for puncture wounds that went down to the bone (though she had no knowledge of the topic at all). Tsuna had grown up, if only just a little. He was a sight for sore-eyes, and seemed to take more after her than his father. Many of the guests at the table were staring openly at him.

"So, Tsu, what do you plan on doing now that you're finally home?" Nana asked, after the blonde began to dig into her bowl of soup.

"Ah, um," Tsuna blushed, neck reddening as all eyes turned on him. He took a nervous bite from his bread roll, "Well. The next thing I should do is find an apprenticeship, o-or go on a quest. I need to hone my skills in order to get into a secondary school."

"So, then you won't be staying?" Nana asked, smile fading slightly. Tsuna nodded, looking guilty.

"I'm not sure where to start, though. I didn't think this far ahead," Tsuna muttered, scratching the back of his neck. Truth be told, he didn't think that far ahead because he never thought that he would get to this point in the first place. It almost felt like a dream. "An apprenticeship sounds good, but I'm not…well, really _good_ at anything. I wouldn't know where to start looking, anyways. So, I was thinking about a quest…"

The man sitting across from Tsuna smiled, foot feeling the smooth curve of Tsuna's calf as his toes glided by, "You could come with me. I know a few people who might need some help…" The man winked at Tsuna.

The teen gave a nervous smile and quickly moved his legs away from the stranger's probing toes, "T-that's okay! I-I, um, I think I, uh, need to do things on m-my own." Tsuna moved his legs again when the stranger got too close.

This was weird. Tsuna quickly bit down into his bread roll again as Nana watched his nervousness with a critical eye and then glanced at the man sitting across from him.

"Searching for a quest?" a voice piped up from the far end of the table. Tsuna leaned over his plate to try to catch a glimpse of the stranger. The man wore a black fedora with a yellow band, eyes shadowed under the brim while strange, curled sideburns peeked out from beneath the hat. He wore a sleek black suit, and a dangerous aura swirled around his dark form.

Tsuna hesitantly nodded, and dodged another foot-swipe from the man across from him.

The suited man smirked, "Have a go at Perambulāre. They say it's the place where destinies cross."

Tsuna gulped, unnerved at the man's tone, but nodded nonetheless. Somehow, the man's words seemed to have a touch of fate around them.

Thinking back on it, maybe Tsuna should have just gone with the man trying to play one-sided footsies with him. His fate would have been the same, but with a lot less of the trouble and suffering that happened first.

**O.o-oO0Oo-o.O**

Ahaha, hello? Anyone out there? No? Understandable.

This has been a long time in coming. Please forgive me! Things have been busy as of late.

I'm sorry for the quality of this chapter. I don't really like it, since it's just filler and my dad had me rushing towards the end because he wants me to go to bed, but…Well, it introduces a couple of important points. You'd all do well to remember the things that happen in this chapter, even if they seem insignificant. There's a lot of foreshadowing.

*****Something has come to my attention, as well. I don't think it's a secret that Yamamoto and Gokudera are going to be in this. The thing is: I said that in the first chapter, I'm not going to be doing honorifics or last names first. But, Tsuna usually calls Gokudera and Yamamoto by their last names. What do I do? Should I keep using Gokudera and Yamamoto as the guys' names throughout the story, or switch to using Hayato and Takeshi? Please tell me what you think! And soon, since Takeshi is going to be coming up relatively soon!**

Thank you for reading, and I hope this chapter wasn't too much of a disappointment! Please review, also. It makes me feel better about me failing at life so much. The DayDreaming out!


	3. The Poster Sends in a Little Bill

Swallowed the Moon

By: The DayDreaming

Warnings: AU Erm, a lot of text? Poor characterization, probably OOC. Slight pervertedness on my part. Ahaha, can you catch all the innuendos?!

Full summary: AU Tsuna, worst magic-user ever, never thought he'd graduate from Salence's Academy for the Genesic Empyrean. Hell, no one else thought he would either. Maybe once he starts experiencing life outside of SAGE school's halls, he'll want to return to that constant school daze for good. Conspiracies, fallen princes, and a quest to find his MIA father send Tsuna's once below-average life out of control. Pulled along for the ride, he can only hope that he's strong enough to stand against the odds alongside a carefree swordsman/bodyguard, an entirely too loyal bomber, and a curly-sideburned gunman. Scratch that; he's definitely going to die.

Disclaimer: Katekyo Hitman Reborn! and its characters belong to Amano Akira, not me. This is the only time I'm going to say it.

_This chapter has not been edited for mistakes. If there are any, please notify me and I'll try to rectify the situation whenever I get off my lazy ass._

**O.o-oO0Oo-o.O**

_**Chapter 2**_: The Poster Sends in a Little Bill

(Kudos to anyone who can catch which book the chapter title references. Hint: There's a rabbit.)

**O.o-oO0Oo-o.O**

The house was still, the only noise being the tiny creaks and moans that always came with residing in a relatively old dwelling.

Tsuna sat on his bed, folding clothes into messy piles by the thick bands of moonlight shining through his open window; he would have had his mother do it (she was the best, after all), but it was supposed to be a secret, and the only time that he was ever free from her presence was in the dead of night, when all of the guests had fallen asleep, with all chores and tasks completed. It wasn't that he minded her constant insistence that he be around her and doing work around the house, but it almost felt like Nana was trying to distract him.

It had been five days since he had arrived at home, and it somehow felt like he had been there for forever and for no time at all. Nothing seemed to have changed, and yet everything had, at least concerning him; everything seemed a little too small, a little too old, and a little too nostalgic. He hadn't realized how off-balance he had been, just stepping into his childhood home, until, on his second night, he had awoken from a particularly startling dream (he could never seem to remember what these unsettling dreams were about, but he always woke drenched in sweat and terrified **[1]**) and shuffled downstairs to his mother's room. He had stood in front of the old wooden door, brass handle still shiny in the minimal lighting, and raised his hand to knock before he realized what he was doing and quickly averted his loose fist from striking the dark wood. He had felt confused, realizing that he was sixteen, not six, and that he should be able to deal with the 'terrors of the night' on his own.

Another incident had occurred on day three, when he had been examining the collage of family pictures set proudly on the mantle over the den's fireplace. He found himself dazedly tracing his fingers over the slightly dusty glass of a picture frame, following the aged scratches lining the sepia photo of his father and he blowing bubbles. It was one of his favorites, even though the sight of his father acting so carefree, when all he ever did for Tsuna and Nana was make them worry, made a strange mixture of anger and regret bubble in the pit of his stomach. Nana sat off to the side, stretched out in a clean sundress and a wide-brimmed sunhat, laughing at the sight of a Tsuna no older than five blowing bubbles into his father's hair while the man spilled his cup of soap over his and Tsuna's laps. A neighbor had been the one to snap the photo, happening to pass by the front yard of the Sawada residence with his camera and catching a spectacular, up-close shot.

He was startled when he felt something wet dribble down to his chin, hot and cold at the same time. Crying over a stupid picture? He really was pathetic.

And, he was certain Nana was trying her very best to make it so that he completely forgot to go on his stupid mission to find a quest, or make it so that he didn't have the will to leave. He was sure, since she seemed to be going all out on cooking Tsuna's favorite meals, bringing up nostalgic memories of childhood, re-introducing him to the neighbors, and practically smothering him with hugs and kisses. That woman, he knew, was sweet and kind, but also a schemer when it came down to making him do what she wanted. How the hell did his father ever resist her attempts to make him stay at home and go wherever the hell he went?

Tsuna knew that, if left up to his mother, his leaving home again would never occur. So, he had decided to take it upon himself to pack his things and be ready to set out on his journey the very next day, even though he really didn't feel like it; he had all but fallen hook, line, and sinker, for his mother's ploys. Perhaps the only thing that spurred him on now was the creepy footsies man, sleeping just down the hall from his room. It was terrifying and humiliating to be around the guy, always under his constant scrutiny and strangely unnerving gaze, not to mention his wandering fingers and feet. He wondered if any of the other guests also had to experience the guy's creepy touchy-feely tendencies.

What had really made Tsuna get up in the middle of the night and start packing was the fact that, after just having woken up from a sharp sound coming from outside his window, Tsuna had gotten up, checked to see if something was outside, and then headed to the door to get a glass of water. Waiting just outside was the footsies man, staring intently at him when the door swung open. Tsuna had stood, startled into silence, before letting out a loud "Hiiii," and slammed the door closed and locked it.

He knew he had to leave if the guests actually started trying to antagonize him into leaving, having over-extended his welcome in his own home. But, sheesh, couldn't the guy have said it upfront?

Finishing folding his last shirt, Tsuna let out a loud, tired sigh and dragged his traveler's bag out. Though the bag looked like a thin, ordinary, and heavily worn-out messenger's bag, it was actually rather sturdy, and enchanted by one of SAGE school's own charms teachers. Kyoko had been extremely kind and bought the bag from a school fundraising drive, and given it to Tsuna for his fifteenth birthday. The bag was charmed to be able to hold numerous items and had plenty of space, enough so that Tsuna could probably fit his entire room into the satchel if he tried. Kyoko had actually joked that Tsuna could probably climb into the bag whenever one of the teachers passed out graded tests and his score was particularly horrible.

He unbuckled the flap at the top and proceeded to dump all of his supplies into the tiny bag, the cracked leather of the satchel not even bulging as at least a closet's worth of clothes and a pantry's worth of non-spoilable food (which he had climbed out of his window and walked into town at two in the morning to get; the storeowner wasn't pleased when he knocked on her door, but melted under the combined force of Tsuna's puppy eyes and the mouse ears standing proudly atop his head while the rest of the cloak attempted to hide his pajama-clad form) and camping essentials.

That done, Tsuna looked around his room, trying to see if he had missed anything. He might not be coming back for a long time, and it would really suck to forget something important. Just about everything looked important, now that he thought about it; toys and trinkets, keepsakes and photos, books and albums. He knew it was stupid to want to bring old, childish things with him, but it almost felt like leaving them behind would make them disappear altogether; things that he had known his entire life would vanish from his consciousness, blacking out a sky dotted by a thousand stars worth of memories.

Why the hell was letting go so hard?

He was too old to be floundering about with trivial things; that had been stamped into his consciousness the moment he stepped into SAGE school. Still, now there was nothing stopping him from looking back, reaching out, trying to hold on with a slipping grip.

Tsuna sighed again as he stood and walked over to his too-full dresser, the surface littered with all sorts of bottles of various sizes. He gripped a few empty ones, the sheen of the glass reflecting in his eyes by the moonlight. There was nothing in them, but that would change. Even if he couldn't bring his childhood with him into the future, Tsuna would be sure to carry on preserving bits and pieces of it in his jars, stacked haphazardly on his dresser-top. On a second thought, he reached back and grabbed an intriguingly-shaped jar filled with an assortment of marbles, buttons, and seashells, all of which had been given to him by his father on his supposed trips around the world; it was stupid, but just one memento couldn't hurt, right?

He slipped the fragile items into his bag, and, satisfied, settled into the rumpled covers of his bed; would his mother be proud? He had actually done something all by himself. Still, Tsuna tossed and turned, unable to let his mind drift into the soft lull of darkness. He stared at the almost full moon, framed by his still-open window, too tired to fall asleep somehow.

Now that everything was done, what the hell did he do? It almost felt like that last day at the academy, unsure of what to do with his own feet now that he had actually accomplished what he had set out to do.

He rolled over, not wanting to look at that terrifying night sky, so filled with uncertainty and unanswerable questions. He couldn't help but mumble, "Damn it."

**O.o-oO0Oo-o.O**

Things really hadn't gone as planned.

As soon as he told Nana his intention to leave that day she had gotten all teary-eyed and weepy, muttering something along the lines of 'her baby not wanting her anymore' and 'having to get out the leash and cookies.'

"It's alright, mom," Tsuna said, trying to minutely comfort her by giving small pats on her back while she had taken to kneeling before him and hugging his waist with an iron grip, "I'll come back someday. I mean, how hard could one quest be? A few years at the most, I hear."

This news only made Nana grip him harder and start talking about chloroform. Tsuna was tempted to try and step away from the upset woman. He couldn't remember his mother being this clingy when he was young; hell, she was practically the flightiest woman to be christened a mother, from what he knew. Four years of being alone must have been really hard for her.

Tsuna suddenly felt incredibly guilty, visibly wilting at the track of his own thoughts. Nana slyly peeked up from her position at Tsuna's stomach, watching her son's resolve wither.

But then the guests of the house stepped into the room, seeking to find out the cause of the commotion that could be heard all the way into the dining room, and Tsuna caught sight of footsies guy. He shuddered and quickly gripped his mother's shoulders, making her lift her head fully.

"Y-you know I have to go mom! I couldn't possibly intrude further!" Tsuna stuttered, stepping away from his mother's grip and grasping the strap of his traveler's bag.

"But, Tsu," Nana said, eyeing her son and his peculiar behavior, "This is your home. You couldn't possibly intrude."

Tsuna ignored his mother's infallible logic, and the fact that she no longer seemed devastatingly upset, in favor of stuttering out an unintelligible mess of excuses.

Nana sighed and smiled at the state of her son. Some things just didn't change with time, including Tsuna's inability to get whatever he had to say out without either making a complete fool of himself or mangling the message in the process. Despite it being a bit annoying at times, she couldn't help but think that it made him more endearing. Really, everything about Tsuna was endearing; she had missed him, everything about him, and even his no-good nature. Tsuna was Tsuna, and she wouldn't have it any other way.

She knew she would miss him again, soon. Why was letting go so hard?

"Alright," Nana said, smiling softly and with an air of dejected acceptance, "I get it."

Tsuna stopped mid-rant and glanced at her, disbelieving. He observed her strained smile and slightly watery eyes.

"I guess I can't keep you forever, huh?" she continued, stepping forward and reaching a hand out to ruffle Tsuna's untidy hair, "Even if I only just got you back."

Tsuna stood mutely, a bit perplexed by his mother's sudden yielding. She tugged at his shoulder in a sign to follow her, and together they walked into the den, cool morning light spilling into the room from the uncovered windows.

"Y'know, when you were little," Nana said, walking over to the fireplace and reaching up to grab at one of the picture frames set above, clasping the picture in her hands and staring down at what was held therein fondly, "I thought you would never grow up."

Her finger glided across the glass, trailing around weathered, familiar faces. She looked at Tsuna, eyes shining with something that looked almost like hurt and sadness, but seemed beyond such feeble emotions, "I think your father thought that, too."

Tsuna made a small noise of confusion, still befuddled by his mother's strange behavior. He walked towards her and clasped her shoulder firmly, trying to assure her; of what, he didn't know. He glanced down to see a frame housing sepia tones and faded lines.

"I regret it, thinking like that. I'm sure he does, too," she went on, finger resting on the obvious figure of his father, "I bet he thought that time would stand still when you were involved, Tsuna. That, every time he came back, you would still be there, waiting to have the empty spaces of your childhood filled in.

"Were we wrong?" Nana asked, letting the picture fall to her side and turning to face Tsuna fully. She looked like she was about to cry; Tsuna quickly enfolded her in his arms, feeling too lost to say anything of measurable value.

Suddenly, the morning felt all too much like night, still and silent; the footsteps of wanderers treading over fragile ideologies obvious like people standing in doorways without entering.

After a while, an undeterminable amount of time that seemed to stretch on like five days, forever and not at all, Nana moved away from her son's embrace and quickly handed him the picture frame, Tsuna's favorite one, with the picture that made it look like they were all a family and not just a bunch of scattered chess pieces strewn on the ground after having bitten the dust.

"Take it," she mouthed at him, before giving him a quick hug and kiss on the cheek. Audibly, she said, "Well! I better get breakfast ready! Everyone must be starving. Are you sure you don't want anything?"

Tsuna nodded numbly, staring dumbfounded at the picture, before stuttering out, "Y-yeah. I gotta go. The train leaves in an hour."

Nana nodded and smiled, looking him over one more time before shoving him playfully on the shoulder in the direction of the front door. It was obvious that Tsuna didn't have the will to move from his spot, and at her prodding, suddenly jolted backwards and towards the entrance of the den.

"I'll call you when I get the chance, okay? And I'll write, too," Tsuna said, smiling shakily and stepping towards the exit. He hesitated, then turned around, smiling as brightly as he could. He didn't want his mother to see him leave looking so unsure. The brightness of his smile put one on Nana's face as well, "Love you, mom. I'll see you soon, I promise."

"I love you, too. Of course."

**O.o-oO0Oo-o.O**

Perambulāre was a bustling city, set at the very outskirts of the country, with one side bordered by a neighboring province and another by the sea. The city was famous for its capacity as a merchant city; it was also well known as a hotspot for wanderers, bounty hunters, and potential employers to meet and conduct business.

Tsuna was amazed, and stood, gawking like an idiot, at the entrance gates. He had never seen a place so huge, having been cloistered in the relatively small confines of his hometown and SAGE school. The buildings were old and incredibly detailed, the architecture wrought by master artisans' hands, and it sprawled on for miles and miles.

He could see in the distance the looming form of an airship, possibly carrying cargo from a far-off land, circling the airdrome as it prepped to land. Bright sunlight and reflected rays from the glittering ocean in the background made the ship shine like a star.

Busy with his staring, Tsuna didn't realize until it was too late that he was in the middle of an extremely busy thoroughfare, and was promptly knocked to the side when a burly man pushed past him.

Laying on the hard, cobbled street, Tsuna stared up like a deer caught in headlights at the rude man. He looked burly, in his mid-thirties, with a long, greasy Mohawk tucked into a ponytail at the base of his neck. A long, thick scar marred the side of his face and sealed his right eye shut. Tsuna nervously gulped when he noticed that the peculiar shininess around the man's ears, eyebrows, nose and lips were multiple piercings, gold and silver hoops studded in cheap gems.

The man sneered at him, revealing a mouth in a similar state to his piercings, glinting and bedazzled.

"Watch where you're going, hick," he spat, and moved on.

Tsuna let his mouth move inaudibly for a couple seconds, looking like a fish out of water, before he heard the condescending giggles of a few girls huddled in a group on the other side of the road, clad in skimpy school uniforms (at least by SAGE standards) with short-sleeved blouses and skirts that only went down to mid-thigh, to reflect the balmy weather of the sea-side city. Tsuna blushed heatedly, scrambling off of the dirty cobble stones, not only in embarrassment for acting like a complete tourist, but also at the fact that at his angle, he could almost clearly see their slinky undergarments.

Mortified, he pulled the hood of his cloak up, hiding his eyes in the resulting darkness and away from onlookers, realizing belatedly that this would only result in further embarrassment due to the 'attachments' at the top. With a shuddering sigh at hearing the girls burst out into full-bellied guffawing, Tsuna turned and walked forward into the city. If this encounter was anything to go by, he could tell that just graduating from SAGE hadn't made him a better person; he was no-good and an idiot, but with a diploma, now.

As he walked further in, Tsuna attempted to take in his surroundings, noticing the alarming amount of people who looked similar to the rude man that had knocked into him earlier. It was terrifying to be under their scrutiny; it almost felt like their hardened eyes could see right through him, even though he had hidden his face within his ridiculous cloak. A few were even sniggering at him and waving him over, making weird gestures around their waistlines. Tsuna gulped; what if that sign meant that they were going to drag him into an alley and kill him?

He let out a low "Hiii!" and hurried along, searching for a tavern where he could possibly find an employer and trying hard to not meet anyone's eyes. That weird man in the fedora and suit had said that Perambulāre would be the best place to search for a quest or apprenticeship, and that the most likely places to find employment were bars and other places where people congregated; taverns would be the most likely spot, since they posted job requests on boards at the back of pubs and allowed for a place where the poster and job-seeker could converse and work out the terms of their contract.

Tsuna wished that the man had told him more; he seemed extremely well-versed on the subject, an experienced traveler. But, unfortunately, the man had seemingly disappeared after dinner, completely vacating the household, without Tsuna even able to find out his name; none of the other guests knew who he was, either, the man having chosen not to divulge his identity to the other residents of the house.

Tsuna continued to wander, starting to get desperate when people began to go out of their way to push and poke him as he passed. He couldn't tell if the people of the city were really that rude, or he was just that unwelcome and clumsy. He also began to worry as the afternoon wore on. He needed to find a tavern or a place to stay; he really did not want to be out on the streets in the dark, not when people kept making that weird crotch-gesture at him.

Just as the sun was beginning to set, and Tsuna's sore feet were protesting a little too loudly, he spotted a low, squat building with bustling activity on the inside, a sign reading "The Company" hanging on an aged, antique-looking rod. Outside, a couple bodies were strewn haphazardly; Tsuna hoped that they were completely smashed bar-patrons, and not dead.

He really hoped this place was a tavern; he was exhausted and felt completely despondent. Salvation had to be close at hand, hadn't he suffered enough?

Tsuna eagerly walked into the noisy tavern, taking in the sight of aged, stone walls and dirty, tiled floors with heavy wooden tables, shining from thick varnish and spilled alcohol, set about the room. An upper story hung above the ground floor, the fancier patrons staring down at the ruckus caused by several drunks with a look of disdain.

He wasn't quite sure what to do as he looked around, trying to identify anything that looked remotely close to a board with postings on it. He stood nervously by the heavy, double-doored entrance, trying to shadow his face as much as possible from the curious patrons with his hood. They pointed openly at the strange appearance of the newcomer.

Tsuna looked frantically, eyes scanning each crevice of the room, until he realized that the large group of bodies huddled around the right wall of the bar was muttering about something, ogling at something…

Tsuna made his way over to the group, taking in the appearance of many hardened-looking warriors and wanderers, and twitching when he caught sight of the rude man from earlier, who was bickering openly with two other individuals that looked much the same as him. He tried to make himself look as small as possible, but then realized that hunching up only caused him to be even shorter and incapable of seeing what everyone was looking at.

He pushed himself up on his tiptoes instead, taking in the appearance of a large and weathered board with many pieces of paper tacked onto it. Some people were reaching out and grabbing at the paper, tearing the posters down and leaving the mingling group to head for the front, where they would assumedly talk to the owner of the establishment and set up a meeting time with the poster of the bill.

The group was thick, and Tsuna had to wait patiently while the crowd moved forward; he had become sandwiched between a man that wore a colorful parka and a wizard's hat that constantly clashed with his mouse ears, and a woman with very full cleavage in an extremely short tube top and heavy-looking pauldrons.

He was stuck like this for a while, leaning back slightly to keep his ears away from the wizard's hat, and trying to ignore the soft chest which he leaned against, the woman pressing back unashamedly. Just when the wait was becoming unbearable, and Tsuna was beginning to be tempted with the idea of leaving the hot, alcohol-scented crowd, a commotion was started at the front as a squat, middle-aged woman in a dirty, stained apron shoved past everyone and posted a large piece of paper, before quickly retreating as the crowd closed in like a bunch of starved vultures to gaze at the new posting.

Due to the swelling in the crowd, Tsuna was shoved forward, losing the sensation of the woman with the large chest against his back, and now standing side-by-side with the colorful wizard at the forefront of the rowdy group. He blinked at the sight of the postings, dazed but also trying to quickly read, in case anyone decided that he didn't deserve to be at the front and shoved him aside.

He ignored the new posting completely, thinking that it would most likely be taken before he even got a chance to look, instead focusing on an interesting page asking for a housemaid with some magical training, good pay, room and board, and no experience required. Nothing seemed wrong with the posting, and he was just about to take it, when the sudden yelling from a few feet away jolted him. He looked over, seeing Mr. Rude shouting to his cronies about the newly posted bill.

"What the hell is this shit?!" he shouted, pointing spastically at the paper. The crowd gave a murmur of mixed agreement and scoffing.

Another person snickered, letting out slyly, "Obviously an idiot. A greenie we have right here."

"What's happening?" could be heard from the back, people too far to see the apparently offensive posting wanting in on the uproar.

"Some _moron_," Mr. Rude enunciated loudly, "Just posted for an _escort_ to go with 'im to fucking _Heretic's Hollow_!!"

The crowd began to murmur, the hum filling Tsuna's ears. Whatever this Heretic's Hollow place was, it obviously didn't stand well with the job-seekers. Was there a point in even going for the poster? No one wanted to touch it; did that mean it was a poor job? He really wished he knew what the hell he was doing.

Tsuna sighed and turned around, deciding to just go for the maid service posting (if there was one thing he had learned from his mother and his many detentions at school, it was that he was a damn fine janitor). He then let out a small moan when he realized that it was gone, and the wizard that had been standing right next to him had mysteriously vanished.

What now? It didn't seem like there were any other good jobs around him. All required some level of skill to pull off, skill which he lacked. He gave a quick glance over to the new posting, deemed by onlookers to be unworthy (or maybe distasteful?) and therefore sat by its lonesome on the board, the crowd swirling away from it.

It couldn't hurt to look, right? Tsuna inched over, pressing himself up against the board and smooshing his way through until he stood in front of the posting, quickly scanning the bold text printed on the paper. It did indeed ask for an escort up to Heretic's Hollow (knowledge of the area unnecessary), some ability to fight, and preferably soon. The pay wasn't specified, and an interesting tidbit caught his eye: "Preferably have little to no family ties, and a will written up." He mouthed the words, trying to puzzle over the meaning.

Well, surely all of the uncertainty in the writing could be cleared up by speaking to the employer, right? It was okay to ask questions, wasn't it? It was totally okay to say no if he ended up not wanting to?

Tsuna was hanging on a limb. What should he do? He needed a job, one that he could do, and a person that seemed desperate enough to hire someone like No-Good Tsuna. It was perfect, really. No one wanted the job, he really wanted something to quest for, the poster needed someone gulli—willing to go; match made in heaven.

Tsuna wanted to bang his head against the wall and scream; he was in denial.

He looked around, making sure no one else was going for the bill, and then quickly tugged at the bottom of the paper like he had seen so many others do while waiting on the outskirts of the crowd. The crisp paper came off with a pop, the sound suddenly extremely audible as silence fell over the mob and all eyes turned to the idiot in the mouse-eared cloak. The tack holding the paper to the cork paneling of the board had flown up as Tsuna pulled the paper away; before it hit the ground, a gloved hand easily caught the tiny spike of metal, while the hand's twin clamped firmly onto Tsuna's shoulder.

He was promptly spun around, his hood flying off to reveal stunned, tawny eyes, as he clutched the posting to his chest in reflex. He could feel all sorts of eyes focused on him, but he ignored it in favor of staring up at his assailant, a teen with blond, scruffy hair much like his own, and a pair of sky blue eyes. The teen was grinning madly while he absentmindedly threw the tack he had caught up and down.

The guy glanced down, eyeing the paper clutched to Tsuna's chest, and Tsuna was able to look away from his startling eyes to observe that the teen was dressed in a dark mantle, and that printed on the glove clutching his shoulder was a large 'I.'

"Now, then," the teen glanced to Tsuna, grin widening in excitement, "If you have the time, let's get down to business. Drinks on me, yeah?"

**O.o-oO0Oo-o.O**

**(1)** – This is kind of hinting at the fact that Tsuna can't really remember what he was dreaming on the train. Also hinting that Tsuna seems to be able to get premonitions in his dreams. I always think it's weird how Byakuran and Uni can** [SPOILER]** see into the future, but all Tsuna gets is hyper-intuition. Y'know, Tsuna uses the sky flame, so wouldn't he be able to do this, too? Well, we'll see if this subject gets expounded upon.

**O.o-oO0Oo-o.O**

For fuck's sake, this chapter is exactly 4900 words, 9 pages with Calibri and 11 point font. I hate you all. Hate you. I hope you're happy. I can't feel my ass.

Sorry for being so late, guys. School got crazy (I mean batshit insane), and I haven't had an opportunity until now to write. And, I told you guys, didn't I? This story will have a lot of Final Fantasy elements, but not exactly the same.

I don't think I've ever had so much trouble with characterization. Nana totally threw me off. She makes me want to stab my eyes out with toothpicks. I don't know how to write her, since she never seems to have serious moments with Tsuna. Then, once Nana managed to piss me off, I think I threw off Tsuna's character. I'm sorry guys. There's a lot of text in this chapter, and it was probably pretty boring. I'm trying to work on adding detail into my story; I don't know if it's working. You all also might be wondering why all this build-up is necessary for Tsuna leaving home. Well, uh…You know, I'm just trying to describe how hard it is to leave home. The motif is supposed to be growing up and letting go, but I'm having trouble showing it. God, I hope you guys got all my references. It's just, videogames and mangas never really expound upon how hard it is for people to set out on journeys or move up in their lives. They always describe the characters as being confident and self-assured, and the parents always seem willing to let their fourteen year old children go out and fight big, bad monsters. Never really made much sense to me; people like me, who cling to routine and stability, would be terrified. I imagine Tsuna would be, too. I don't know if I conveyed it successfully, but I just wanted to write out these feelings, since I too will be stepping out of my comfort zone soon, since I'm graduating from high school this year.

**About why I take so friggin' long to update:** I have about two hours every day to use the computer. I'm a busy high schooler, and much of what I'm busy with involves the computer as well, so I can't use my time on the comp. to write fanfiction. Also, my parents don't know that I write, and I'd rather keep it that way. I can't go on the computer when they're home. Also, I write stories in one sitting. This chapter right here took me about six hours to type, sitting straight through; I can't stand starting and stopping writing, so it can only be in one sitting. The days where I have enough time to just sit for six hours and type, with my parents not home, and me having nothing to do, are far and few between. I'll try to update more frequently, I will, since I am honestly interested in this story, but I can't promise you guys weekly, bi-weekly, or even tri-weekly updates. Sorry.

There's more to say, but this is already too long, so, whatever. Merry Christmas, guys! This is my gift to you for being awesome and giving me loads of reviews for my very first Reborn! story. Thanks a lot! And, share the love by giving me Christmas or Hanukkah presents, or whatever, in the form of reviews! The DayDreaming out!


	4. Idle Conversation

**Swallowed the Moon**

By: The DayDreaming

Warnings: AU Unfortunately very short. Might be slightly OOC, since I'm rusty. See note **(2)** at the bottom for an explanation as to why.

Disclaimer: Katekyo Hitman Reborn! and its characters belong to Amano Akira, not me. This is the only time I'm going to say it.

_This chapter has not been edited for mistakes. If there are any, please notify me and I'll try to rectify the situation whenever I get off my lazy ass._

**Here's a refresher as to where we are in the story:**

Prologue: Tsuna leaves SAGE school.

Chapter 1: Tsuna returns home.

Chapter 2: Tsuna departs from his house and arrives in Perambulāre, where he finds a pub and a posting asking for an escort up to Heretic's Hollow.

_He was promptly spun around, his hood flying off to reveal stunned, tawny eyes, as he clutched the posting to his chest in reflex. He could feel all sorts of eyes focused on him, but he ignored it in favor of staring up at his assailant, a teen with blond, scruffy hair much like his own, and a pair of sky blue eyes. The teen was grinning madly while he absentmindedly threw the tack he had caught up and down._

_The guy glanced down, eyeing the paper clutched to Tsuna's chest, and Tsuna was able to look away from his startling eyes to observe that the teen was dressed in a dark mantle, and that printed on the glove clutching his shoulder was a large 'I.'_

"_Now, then," the teen glanced to Tsuna, grin widening in excitement, "If you have the time, let's get down to business. Drinks on me, yeah?"_

**O.o-oO0Oo-o.O**

_**Chapter 3**_: Idle Conversation

**O.o-oO0Oo-o.O**

Before he could realize what was happening, Tsuna found himself plopped unceremoniously into a hard wooden chair across from the strange man, whom had immediately taken to calling over a bar maid and requesting refreshments. He clenched his fingers, mind still in a daze, and found that the bill he had previously been holding was twisted into a small roll and partially torn.

"Forgive me," the stranger began, flashing a winning smile that made Tsuna simultaneously wince and melt, "I just couldn't wait when I saw you looking at my post."

The stranger paused, genial smile still tacked in place. He stared at the man, expecting more of an explanation but receiving none. It was a few seconds before Tsuna caught sight of the stranger's hand which was laid on the table and making small gestures towards him; he latched onto the motion, not wishing to look at the man's face anymore in the event that his skull began to liquefy from just how intensely the stranger was scrutinizing him.

The hand's movements became more erratic, and Tsuna steadily followed, until the digits stopped and the man cleared his throat. He lifted his gaze to the other teen once more and found that the previous smile plastered on his face had grown, and maybe developed a slight tick.

"Uh…," he started, lost on what the other wanted.

The man suddenly thrust his hand forward, almost knocking the appendage into Tsuna's face, "I'm sorry! I should have introduced myself first!"

Oh, Tsuna thought, the man had been waiting for his name. The hand in front of him wavered slightly, and, catching the gesture, he took hold in a loose version of a handshake.

"My name is Ieyatsu," the man said, beginning to vigorously shake Tsuna's arm. He had an extremely firm grip and calloused, warm hands. The gloves didn't seem to detract from the heat at all, and he was almost under the illusion that the coverings were exuding some sort of warmth as well.

"T-tsunayoshi," he bit out, trying to reciprocate the man's enthusiasm with a wavering smile that appeared more as a grimace and a slight squeezing of his fingers that couldn't have possibly been felt by the other, "Tsunayoshi Sawada."

The handshake came to a jerky stop after he spoke, and Ieyatsu's hand immediately returned to its place on the tabletop, tapping out an erratic rhythm in the wake of its violent motion.

"Uh, well," Tsuna started, watching as Ieyatsu's jovial façade fell away slightly, only to be replaced by an unsure, almost lost expression, "I, I guess I had a couple questions about the job…?" He let the sentence trail off.

Ieyatsu instantly brightened, coming back into control of the situation at his suggestion, "Yeah, the job!"

After his exclamation, the barmaid he had ordered from wandered back over, setting two mugs of grog neatly in front of the pair. She made a show of the low neckline of her blouse and assets before standing and sending Ieyatsu a defined wink. He gave a polite smile and courteous 'thank you' to her before she left, a sashay that swung her skirts about ever-present.

Ieyatsu let the smile slide off his face once she moved out of eye-shot, "She looks rather suspicious, don't you think?"

Tsuna, who had been completely ignored, nodded along as he fidgeted with the thick glass handle of the mug in front of him, "I don't know, maybe. I think she likes you."

"That'd be kinda weird," Ieyatsu smiled at him, "The people down here are strange."

"Hm, what do you mean?" he asked, confused, "You're not from around here?"

Ieyatsu spasmed at the question, smile immediately ticking, "I, well—"

"It's okay!" he quickly interrupted, waving his arms, "I'm not from here either." He offered a tentative smile to try and placate the other boy.

"Well, of course it's okay!" said boy let loose a too-loud laugh and scratched the back of his head, "I'm just startled that it's not obvious, that's all!"

This guy's really weird, Tsuna couldn't help but think as the other grabbed his glass and chugged down about half of the concoction before choking slightly, or he's crazy.

"So, anyways," he tried again, "About the job…"

"Oh, yeah, right!" Ieyatsu set down his glass and steepled his fingers together under his chin, "It's pretty easy. You'll be acting as an escort, mine specifically. You'll be helping me make the journey up to, and back from, Heretic's Hollow. Doesn't sound too bad, right?"

Somehow, the too-friendly smile stamped across his companion's face did more to unease Tsuna than anything.

At his unresponsiveness, Ieyatsu straightened himself, "Anyways, the pay's really good! At least, I think for someone of your stature—" At this, Tsuna raised his brows in contemplative surprise, "Not that there's anything wrong with your stature!"

"Just who do you think I am?" Tsuna smiled, though it was strained to the point of being barely more than a grimace, "A bounty hunter? A Post's Man?**(1)** Maybe someone, I don't know, dangerous?"

Ieyatsu wasn't perturbed by the question in the least, instead making a small motion towards Tsuna's untouched beverage, "You don't like this stuff?" At Tsuna's shake of the head, he reached over and took the mug into his hand, making to sip at it, but upon viewing the contents merely placed the glass out of the way, "Me neither. I thought it made for good conversation to drink it. Sorry. I don't really like it, either."

"Anyways, I was hoping that you might be any of those things," Tsuna averted his eyes to the side, pretending to examine an overly obese man as he paraded drunkenly around his table with one of his compatriots.

"Well, I'm not," the truth tasted almost bitter on his tongue, "In all honesty, I'm probably about the most useless person you could find. From what I hear, only a failure would try to help you."

Ieyatsu quitted his fiddling with the drink handle, drawing his eyes to examine the pathetic figure of a haggard boy, with eyes too big for his face and a cloak that wrapped around his figure like a child's security blanket that made him appear lost and alone.

He tried to smile, even though gazing into Tsuna's eyes made him feel small, "Hey, don't be that way, Tsuna. I'm sure you're fine." The words did little to convince the boy, whom merely averted his face to the table, form curling in on itself like a snail.

"If you say so."

Maybe it was the way Tsunayoshi said those words, with the ease that comes from a long list of failures, honey and milk gone sour; or maybe the place in his heart that held the boyish whim of proving others wrong; maybe even the small, dark corner in his head that whispered of his own fear of inadequacy; whatever it was, it made Ieyatsu stand and move to Tsuna's side. He placed his palm over the boy's heart, radiant heat seeping past the padding of clothes and skin, and leaned in close to his ear, noting the scent of anxiety and hard work from a long day gone.

"You are not a failure. That word is a lie, and perhaps you are a fool to believe it; but, never a failure," he could feel as the body so close beside him trembled, and he smiled, trying to feed all the warmth he could muster into his words, tried to believe in them, "The sky is vast. In order to fly, the wings of one will not fit the shoulders of another; the wind doesn't come when one calls; nor is the world ever without storms and rain. My predecessors taught me that."

He patted Tsuna's chest one last time before standing, pulling out his wallet and tossing several silvery paper bills onto the table, "C'mon Tsuna—is it alright if I call you Tsuna?—whereabouts are you staying?"

Tsuna blinked at the sudden change in atmosphere, before stumbling up and after the already-moving figure, "U-um, actually, I haven't been able to look for a place yet…"

"Oh, that's good!" Ieyatsu swung around and grabbed onto Tsuna as he caught up, "You can stay with me!"

"But—but—!" Tsuna was cut off as they exited the tavern and fell into the crisp air of Perambulāre, the chill rolling in from the sea raising gooseflesh along his arms.

"Heh, don't worry about it! I'm your employer now, and you're technically my escort, so it's cool!" Ieyatsu tugged harder and Tsuna was forced to follow at a brisk trot, down the cobbled street and into an alley, only barely dodging past trash bins and puddles of grimy water.

"WHAT? Bu—I never agreed to be your escort!" he tried to pull his arm away, but the grip on it was so vice-like and strong that it felt as though he were trying to tear away from a wall, "Let go!"

"I guess you really are a fledgling," Ieyatsu said, grin plastered onto his face as he raced through the alleyway only to emerge onto another street, this one only slightly less crowded than the last with people milling around late-open stores and restaurants, "Didn't you know that tearing the bills off of the Post Board is like signing a contract? There's magic there on that paper; touching it is as good as signing your name on the dotted line."

Tsuna blushed; something so blatant should have been obvious to even a first-year academy student. He wondered again how he'd managed to graduate.

They stopped in front of a finely furnished building, the exterior gleaming even in the dim light of the evening, Tsuna almost running into Ieyatsu's back as he gaped openly at the establishment.

"Will it be okay for you for the night?" Tsuna snapped his stare away and shut his hanging jaw, turning to face his companion who looked mildly concerned.

"Y-Yeah, it's great," he stumbled out, "But you really don't have to do this, Mr. Ieyatsu."

"Heh, it's okay kid, and call me Ieyatsu, will ya?" Ieyatsu tousled his hair, steadfastly ignoring the fact that he was probably only a few years older than Tsuna, "By now, most every place will be full. You won't be able to find a room anywhere. Besides, mine comes with two beds; why not use 'em?"

Tsuna bit his lip, conflicting thoughts fluttering like birds through his mind before finally conceding, "Okay."

Ieyatsu seemed to glow at the response, ushering him forward like a herder guiding his sheep, "Great! We can talk more inside."

And, despite his outward protests, on the inside, Tsuna could feel just the tiniest seed of hope burrow into his heart. Could this really be leading to better things; tomorrows that did not drag on into regretted yesterdays and mornings bright with the tang of expectations? A life not wrought in wasted time?

The hope burned at the back of his eyes.

**O.o-oO0Oo-o.O**

(1) Post's Man is basically lingo for people who work solely on board-postings at pubs and other establishments. They don't really stray from bill-work, and are often-times more reputable than bounty-hunters and mercenaries.

(2) **Why is Ieyatsu characterized the way he is**? Simply put, we never see Giotto out of Hyper-Dying-Will mode, do we? So we don't actually have a true gauge on his personality. He's supposed to be socially awkward, for a reason that will be explained in the next few chapters, and he's also supposed to be keeping a secret, though I tried to portray him as a bad liar (from what I read, Giotto seems like an honorable person, so I used some creative license and turned this into being nervous when lying). As for the failure part? In the manga (I think?) it's said that Giotto was told he would fail in his task of defending his town, but he actually succeeded. I played off of that to show him having a bit of a fear of failure, but having the determination to push past it.

**O.o-oO0Oo-o.O**

Hey guys! How ya doing? Have you all died yet? Yes? Sorry… Anyways, I'm really sorry for not posting in such a long time, and for updating with something so crappy. I've really lost my groove with this story, and I only just realized this as I started back in on typing the chapter. I had gotten a few paragraphs in, but stopped for months afterwards, only starting up again when I got inspiration from reading the new manga chapters. Who else really hates Adelheid? Sheesh, what the fuck is wrong with her chest? Hope to god we get rid of her by the end of the arc. Enma I'm kinda iffy on. I thought he was okay, but as things are progressing, he might turn out to be a total jackass. Who knows, but I have my fingers crossed that he turns out okay.

So, good news for you guys! I now have my own laptop, which basically means almost unlimited amounts of writing time! Pray that I don't lose focus and chapters will be posted relatively quickly. I've also graduated (that's why I was absent for so long; tons of shit happened in the interim of my last update and now, back-to-back projects and assignments and bouts of depression and all that teenage drama), meaning we'll now have to contend with college in about two months. I'll try and get as much in as I can.

One last thing: I'm thinking of changing the title. "Swallowed the Moon" used to have a reason for being the title, but now that time has passed and the plot has developed more in my head, it's lost its place in the story. I'm thinking of changing it to "**RevenanT**" which is more apt for what I have in mind. If you guys read this, please tell me what you think. The next time I update (which might actually be in a couple days if I have it my way), I'll change it to that. If you guys really want to keep the title the way it is, then I won't. :) Deal? Okay, signing out! **And don't worry, next chapter will be longer.**


	5. If It's Not the One Thing, It's Another

**Swallowed the Moon**

By: The DayDreaming

Warnings: AU Unfortunately very long. And terribly written. Might be OOC, I don't know. Slight blood and gore. Sappiness? **Glossary of Terms and character stats at the bottom! Art at bottom!**

Disclaimer: Katekyo Hitman Reborn! and its characters belong to Amano Akira, not me. This is the only time I'm going to say it.

_This chapter has not been edited for mistakes. If there are any, please notify me and I'll try to rectify the situation whenever I get off my lazy ass._

**O.o-oO0Oo-o.O**

_**Chapter 4**_: If It's Not the One Thing, It's Another

**O.o-oO0Oo-o.O**

Everything was too heavy. So hard to move, like leaden weights strapped to his limbs. His eyelids burned as he attempted to pull them up, moisture gathering in the crevices as sunlight ultimately entered the pupils.

"Tsuna…"

Mom?

"Wake up, please."

No, he can't.

If he wakes up, he'll most definitely…

"Tsunayoshi, we have to leave soon."

I'll disappear, he thought, just as the sunlight turned to fire.

"TSUNA!"

He jolted awake, shooting up in his bed just as Ieyatsu leaned forward, causing a painful collision that sent both reeling to the floor. He sucked in a haggard breath, clutching his forehead with a trembling palm.

"Are you okay?" Ieyatsu asked, picking himself up without complaint and holding out an expectant hand to Tsuna's prone form.

"I don't know," he muttered, taking the hand and immediately noting the unusual warmth, perhaps for the millionth time since he'd met Ieyatsu, "I was…I think I was dreaming. Or, maybe not. It felt so real. Like I…"

He let his sentence trail off, unsure of what to say. He couldn't exactly remember the dream itself, only the distinctly lonely feeling left behind, a stale aftertaste in his mouth.

"A nightmare, perhaps? You kept muttering something. Couldn't understand it, though," Ieyatsu scratched the back of his head nervously before looking around the room, eyes skimming past lavish furniture and ornate decorations as though he'd seen them a thousand times before, "I was worried. You conked out the moment you hit the bed. I tried waking you up, but you were too tired. I even tried pouring a glass of water on your head."

That explained the stiff strands of hair obscuring his vision. He let out a small sigh; leave it to No-Good Tsuna to fall asleep on his employer at the most inappropriate time, when they were supposed to be discussing job-specifics.

"Hey, it's no big deal," Ieyatsu smiled kindly, patting Tsuna's head and running his fingers through the messed-hair like he was a sort of very scrawny and pitiable dog, "You're probably over-stressed, that's all. You did look a bit peakish last night, if I recall."

And now his employer was treating him like a little kid. There was something degrading about the fact that the person he was supposed to be taking care of (_escorting_, he emphasized in his mind) was, in fact, taking care of him like he was Tsuna's long-lost second mother. He supposed it couldn't be helped though; Ieyatsu seemed to care about everyone's well-beings a bit too much (at least, Tsuna assumed this was the case). The teen treated each person he met with the utmost respect, from the barmaid at the tavern last night, to the attendants who flooded around the two as they walked to their quarters for the evening.

"You must have a lot of friends," he mumbled, unaware that he had spoken aloud, so lost in his reverie.

Ieyatsu gained a pensive look, one that didn't escape Tsuna's vision as he came back from his musings. He moved to say something, opening his mouth to do so, but then thought better of it, merely smiling warmly at Tsuna and petting his head again.

"We need to depart soon," Ieyatsu eventually intoned, moving away from him and over to his own bed, where a heavy, leather-padded trunk sank into the soft down quilt draped haphazardly over the mattress. He rifled through the contents quickly, picking out a few choice items such as rope and, of all things, a container of what looked like gumballs. More disconcerting items emerged as well, like a magazine of bullets without a counterpart gun, a significantly large tube of super-bonding glue**(1)**, several sheets of paper, a wire brush toothbrush, some pretty, multi-hued vials with various (and unnerving) pulsing glows, and a liquor bottle. The teen stepped back from the bed to examine his line-up of odds and ends, index finger thoughtfully resting on chin; satisfied, he nodded to himself then turned to the perplexed boy behind him with a smile, "That should be all we'll need. Do you have rations?"

Tsuna's brain didn't allow the question to sink in for a couple of seconds, mind still furiously working on why exactly they needed a cleaning implement and radioactive products on their small journey. At his employer's second prompting, he snapped to attention with a start, fumbling for his bag that lay next to the nightstand by his bed, "Y-yeah, right here."

Confused, the other carefully pulled the bag from Tsuna's hand, turning it over and holding it above his head, before giving it a hardy shake and pressing his ear against the almost flat leather. "Uh," he perused the exterior one more time, "I think you might have been robbed."

"N-no! Look," Tsuna snatched the satchel back, popping open the buckle and lifting the flap to allow Ieyatsu a glimpse inside, "It's bigger than it looks."

Ieyatsu looked doubtful, but pushed an inquiring hand into the bag's questionably dark depths, only to find that it kept going far beyond its apparent capacity. His fingers spread out, the empty space they were met with was almost startling.

"Wow," he murmured, entranced as he kept pushing forward, shoulder-deep, before Tsuna cleared his throat and retracted the bag, "How did it do that?"

"It was a gift," Tsuna replied, busying himself with pulling out fresh clothes from the bag, "From a…friend, of mine." **(2)**

Ieyatsu gave him an appraising look before shrugging it off, "As you say. Anyways, do you mind putting this stuff in there? It's secure, right? I don't want to break anything."

"Ah, uh, sure."

They prepped in silence, Tsuna quickly trotting off to refresh himself with a shower and Ieyatsu fiddling with his mantle and the gloves on his hands. Once Tsuna emerged from the conjoining bathroom, steam rolling out in a cloud behind him, he assembled himself, slinging his packed bag over his neck and hastily pinning the rumpled mouse-eared cloak across his shoulders. That done, he turned to Ieyatsu, who was waiting patiently by the door.

"Ready?" Ieyatsu asked, opening the door and stepping out, Tsuna right on his heels, "We might not be back for a couple days, or, well…"

At his trailing off, Tsuna looked towards him, making a small noise to prompt him to continue. Ieyatsu smiled nervously, scratching his neck, "Well, ever, maybe. If things don't go so well. Like, we die. Or something."

Comforted by the grim prospective, Tsuna managed to walk in a terrified stupor to the stairwell, where he promptly fell after the first step.

* * *

The weather outside was fairly gloomy, crusted in a shell of towering purplish cumulous that sagged heavy with the weight of unshed rain. Though the streets had taken on a dusky gleam in the shadows of the overcast sky, people still milled about in the moments before the storm would strike, chatting eagerly in the exchange of information and money.

Ieyatsu and Tsuna stepped out from the shelter of the hotel awning, a hard gust of wind sending their capes swirling in a gush of fabric. Tsuna gripped the strap of his bag tightly, gnawing with a nervous vigor on his bottom lip; this was not a good omen for the onset of their journey. Though, why, he wasn't sure. All he could really focus on were the butterflies in his stomach, fluttering around in an unwarranted panic. It wasn't so much the weather as it was Ieyatsu himself that made him agitated.

The other boy seemed to be a good person from what he could tell: kind, spirited, and confident in all aspects; and still he couldn't help but think that the outgoing teen was hiding something from him. The purpose of their journey was proof enough of that; Ieyatsu had cleverly dodged any questions as to _why _they needed to go to a place named Heretic's Hollow.

As they stepped onto the uneven stones of the bustling sidewalk, Ieyatsu turned to him and smiled, perhaps trying to relieve some of the tension in the wake of the mood-dampening weather, "You're _sure_ you have everything?"

At Tsuna's nod, he smiled wider and turned back around, blond locks swaying charmingly in his enthusiasm. The teen had the prettiest hair, Tsuna couldn't help but think; it was such a fiery gold, shining even in the dullest of lights. In fact, the other seemed to shine all over, a ceaseless inner-glow encompassing the entirety of his frame. He couldn't help but feel like a tiny, uninteresting rock in the presence of someone equivalent to a polished gem.

The pair proceeded down the populated boulevard, Tsuna following behind his slightly taller guide like a ghost, eyes firmly affixed to the black mantle wrapped casually 'round the other's shoulders. He didn't want to think about all of the other mercenaries staring at them, transfixed by the discorded contrast of the duo. With Ieyatsu, his presence almost a solid, palpable force in the air, Tsuna was all too aware of his own faults and non-existent talents. It was frustrating; he wanted to just stop and curl in on himself, but he strode along anyways, trying to take up as unaffected an appearance as the other.

They crossed the city in this way, Ieyatsu leading with an assured step and unfaltering determination, Tsuna left to stew in his own self-doubt in a sickened haze a quick half-step later. The area around them gradually morphed from a grimy scene of fighters-for-hire and weapon shops to a sprawling shopping district, stores and fine restaurants lining the streets in an eclectic yet still vaguely orderly jumble. Here, there were even more people. Mixed among the crowd of stressed, bartering mothers and hurried businessmen were other boys and girls, dressed in casual, stylish clothes, clumping together and clotting the sidewalks as they walked and talked, lollygagging around and expending as much energy as possible before having to be cooped up in their individual homes while waiting for the storm to pass.

He looked wistfully at a pair of boys and a girl, the lone female walking backwards and smiling while the other two bickered loudly. He could see the affection in their eyes and in their movements; familiarity and devotion ingrained in their predictable conversations and physical jabs. He stopped to stare, a tiny worm of emotion burrowing into his heart. If only…

But that would probably never happen.

Ieyatsu turned when he felt his partner no longer following him, only to see Tsuna stopped quite a bit a ways away, gazing across the street. He looked, not sad, but something mellower. Longing? He didn't like it on the younger boy; it made him look childlike and lost. The kid was too soft, and it strummed a thin string of guilt in his conscience to be dragging the clueless boy into a potentially deadly ordeal such as this.

"Oi! Tsuna! Don't lose sight of me, 'kay?" the shout startled Tsuna out of his reverie; he quickly stumbled into action, almost slipping on the moldy lacquer of a cobblestone. Reuniting with the older boy, he muttered out a quick sorry and bowed his head. Now wasn't the time to be thinking ridiculous things like that; he had a job now, and he couldn't afford to screw-up.

Satisfied at the other's attentiveness, Ieyatsu proceeded forward, moving through the crowds with fluid ease and making sure to keep a watchful eye on the boy.

Past the shopping district lay the wharf. Following along on the edges of the docks, the pair eventually found the main thoroughfare leading to the airdrome and its surrounding associates.

The weather had grown progressively worse along the way, with the thick bed of clouds overhead turning a fierce midnight-blue, pellets of rain skittering down every now and then to splatter onto the already dew-slick road. An almost constant wall of wind battered at those still lingering in the streets; Tsuna found himself in the unfortunate situation of having his cloak wrap spasmodically around his head in an effort to smother him. He caught Ieyatsu smirking for a split second at him every time he managed to push the unruly cloth away from his eyes, following the gesture with a (most definitely manly in every way, shape and form) high-pitched whine.

They eventually stopped at a sheltered bench, the rusty roof of the enclosure giving small peeks of the atmosphere above. A worn sign, designating the area as a bus-stop, swayed in time with the rough advances of the wind, setting an erratic rhythm in the growing quiet of the city. Ieyatsu sat, regally flipping his coat out so that it could act as a barrier between the grimy rust of the seat and his pants. Tsuna was not as graceful, the wind blowing hard and flipping his hood up, blinding him; he collapsed onto the bench in a sightless flurry, almost too embarrassed to pull the irritating clothes away. The other teen smiled but said nothing, opting to instead read the arrival times pasted to the wall of the enclosure.

Tsuna fiddled with the hem of his cloak, unsure of what to do now that they'd arrived. He didn't exactly know where Heretic's Hollow was, or when they'd get there. At least it wasn't in an airship, he thought, idly watching the taxiing planes as they circled the airdrome, sending a barely noticeable hum through the skies. It would be hours before they were cleared for landing, the winds being too strong to safely position the behemoth airbuses into their designated ports. The more precision-oriented sky-vehicles were lucky, still allowed to enter the gigantic facility, though none would be cleared to leave.

He had always wanted to try a ride on an airship; preferably one of the luxury cruisers rather than a more rickety airplane or ornithopter. It was too bad he'd never had the money, reason, or opportunity to do as such. Still, it was nice to think about every once in a while, when he managed to overhear some of the other students at S.A.G.E. talking about their winter or summer vacations spent aboard a slow rider across the great oceans.

Right now though, he didn't want to be up there at all. The usually steady airbuses, bloated blimps used to carry economy class passengers to nearby countries, seemed to be having trouble remaining in steady flight patterns as they battled against the greater gusts of air in the sky; some even seemed to be breaking apart from the pack and making to head out to sea, where calmer waters and the ship's inherent buoyancy would allow for a safer alternative, as well as save on the fuel and magic used to keep such heavy crafts in the skies for long periods of time.

After a while of fidgeting around, alternatingly kneading the fabric of his shirt and pants and bag, he turned to Ieyatsu, who had taken to staring numbly out onto the grey street.

"Ah…I-Ieyatsu," he started, hesitant to break the other's concentration. The blond looked away from a stray sheet of newspaper tumbling along the road and smiled at him, appearing unbothered by the distraction. "We're going to Heretic's Hollow, right?" he nodded. "How are we getting there, exactly?"

Ieyatsu leaned back and tapped the rusty wall beside him, index pointing directly over a bus number, with the time 10:30 AM printed in peeling black paint beside it, "We're going to be catching a bus over to the old Drover's Road—do you know where that is? No? They used to use it to drive cattle to the city before trains became more convenient—anyways, that road starts on the other side of Perambulāre.

"The old Drover's road extends across the entirety of the country, I believe, but it's probably come into disrepair since the only people that really use it are tourists and adventurers on the buses…I think…," he let out an embarrassed laugh. "I'm directly quoting a woman I talked to earlier, so my information is second-hand, at best."

Tsuna nodded, listening attentively. Even though he was rambling a bit, Ieyatsu's every word seemed important, and Tsuna found himself unable to filter out the information that was unnecessary. There was something about him, about his voice, that just made him hang onto every miscellaneous sentence and movement the other boy made, like a moth drawn to flame.

Ieyatsu continued, "One of the bus' stops is at the beginning of the path that leads to Heretic's Hollow, which is about a half-day's hike for us, even longer if we're slow or run into trouble."

"A half-day's hike?" Tsuna yelped, choking on the words as they slipped out of his throat.

"Yeah," Ieyatsu frowned, concerned, "Something wrong?"

"W-well," he stuttered. Yes there was something wrong! He couldn't even walk a quarter of the way across the city without feeling put-out and exhausted, let alone hike up what was quite possibly a mountain! And what about those complications Ieyatsu was talking about? He let out a defeated sigh at Ieyatsu's nonplused stare. The other boy could probably walk up three mountains in a day without breaking a sweat with how indifferent he appeared about the whole matter. He'd have to stick it out and hope the other wouldn't become too irritated with him. "No, n-nothing's wrong. Sorry."

"Well…If you're sure," the blond muttered, leaning out to look down the road at the sounds of a wheezing engine filling the air. "There's the bus now. A bit late, but whatever."

The bus heaved to a stop in front of them, the exterior painted half in olive green and half in beige, the motif of a safari apparent with the words "Phil's Countryside Adventure" slathered in oily black letters on the panels of the bus' excess baggage compartment. The door of the bus puttered open, revealing the smoking form of man past his prime, with frizzy grey hair skirting around a prominent bald patch on his head and a girth pressing slightly against the steering wheel. Despite his unwelcoming appearance, the man pulled the cigarette away from his mouth and smiled at them, "Coming aboard?"

Ieyatsu nodded, grabbing Tsuna by the wrist and pulling him along and up the steps of the decrepit bus. He stopped before the elderly driver and smiled pleasantly, "Heretic's Hollow, if you wouldn't mind."

The man blinked, confused for a moment at the request and cheery attitude of the new arrivals, before smirking and sticking the cigarette back into his awaiting mouth. He laughed and turned a knob, the singular bus door closing with a squeak a second later, "As you wish."

Satisfied, Ieyatsu tugged Tsuna along, settling on a hard plastic bench for two somewhere in the middle. A few other passengers resided in the vehicle, looking up at the strangers before turning away again, uninterested. Two of them he could vaguely recognize as wanderers, with weathered clothes and a weapon or two sitting beside their patched-up bags. The last looked to be a young man in business attire, sleeping with his head against a window.

"It'll be a couple hours before we get there, so it's okay to sleep if you want," Ieyatsu said, patting his shoulder to indicate where Tsuna could put his head, since he'd taken the window seat. Tsuna nodded, but merely stared out the windows on the other side of the bus, watching the grey city streets of Perambulāre thinning out into open fields still dyed in the dark hues of the clouds above. The scenery lulled him, blurring into a monochromatic scale of slate as he tried to keep his eyes open. He really didn't want to fall asleep in front of his employer so inappropriately again; especially since he was supposed to be acting as an escort, but, well…he did feel excessively drained, the weather and cool ambience of the bus drawing him into slumber.

Ieyatsu smiled as he watched from the corner of his eye Tsuna fighting a losing battle against his closing lids. The kid really was too cute and innocent for his own good.

The string of guilt in his chest grew tauter as the boy unconsciously leaned against him.

* * *

There were birds. Thousands of them, a torrent, a hurricane. He felt high, one thousand miles of endless sky around him; if he looked down, surely he would fall, so he couldn't couldn't couldn't look down no matter what.

Where's Ieyatsu, he wondered. It felt so lonely. Where is he…

The birds were getting louder, so much louder. A cacophony, an unwavering wail in dissonance. Growing growing growing until at last it sounded not so much a discord of noise, but a sharp, singular scream.

He looked down.

* * *

Tsuna shot awake, drawing in a throat-raking lungful of air as he pulled himself up. A dream. When had he fallen asleep?

He settled a hand over his thumping heart, fingers shaking.

"Are you okay?" Ieyatsu asked, touching his shoulder. Tsuna jumped at the contact, losing his balance and tumbling off the bus bench in his panic. "Tsuna?"

"I-Ieyatsu…," he reached out a hand, blindly fumbling for a hold so he could pick himself up. The other quickly grabbed his cloak and reeled him back onto the bench. "T-thanks…"

"Is everything okay?" the blond asked again, relinquishing his hold on the boy as Tsuna set to straightening his rumpled clothes. "Was it another bad dream?"

"I…don't know," Tsuna murmured, holding his head. The vision had already faded, only leaving behind a thin mesh of emotions. It was troubling to think about, this strange influx of odd dreams; though he'd had things like this happen to him before, the occasions were infrequent. Never were the dreams so disjointed and nonsensical, yet still able to infuse a bright seed of panic into his chest.

"That's okay then," Ieyatsu smiled and patted his shoulder, extreme warmth from his hand suffusing into Tsuna's arm and easing the tense muscles. "Just don't think about it. Anyways, we're nearly there, I think. It's been a few hours."

Tsuna nodded absentmindedly. The scenery outside had changed drastically. There was no longer any sign of the city, or civilization in general; the road had altered into thin, crumbling asphalt, sprigs of weedy grass popping through numerous cracks, and the once-open fields had been exchanged for a closed-in canopy of trees.

The rickety bus had also seemed to outrun the storm brewing previously, for the sky was a vibrant blue, dollops of clouds floating overhead like icebergs.

Tsuna turned his attention to Ieyatsu, whom had taken to methodically running his fingers over the metallic 'I' nailed to the top of his right-hand glove. He was mouthing something, silently molding words into sentences as he gazed at a place far beyond where the duo actually was. The other boy was a mystery, though Tsuna held the vague notion that the blond came from royalty just with the finely tailored clothes he wore. The grand hotel that he stayed at also didn't hurt the idea, as well as the fact that the other seemed to be of good breeding. He was beautiful by all standards, and intelligent, though he didn't seem to allow these facts to cloud his mind and make him an unbearably obnoxious prick.

He snapped from his reverie when he felt the bus beginning to slow, face reddening at the knowledge he'd been staring at his companion like a creep. He shook his head and resisted the urge to bang it against the back of the bench before him, instead standing as the clunky vehicle came to a halt with a withering moan. Ieyatsu made no move to follow, still staring into space.

"Ieyatsu," he tried, shaking the other's shoulder. "C'mon. This is us."

Ieyatsu's eyes widened marginally before he smiled and got up, patting Tsuna's head genially, "That's good."

At the front of the bus, Ieyatsu procured a wallet from the pocket of his trousers, handing over the estimated fare and a generous tip, to which the bus driver nodded his head and murmured a gratified 'thank you.' That done, the pair emerged from the bus into the dry air of the surrounding forest. With a whimper, the old clunker lurched into action and rumbled away down the ruined road.

"It'll come back, right?" Tsuna asked. The thought of having to stay stranded here for days was rather terrifying.

"…I dunno," Ieyatsu said. The fact that the idea had never crossed his mind was evident in his voice. Tsuna silently cried.

He turned to examine the area that the bus had left them at, being met only with a curtain of leafy vegetation. Near them, standing on a nearly rusted-through pole was the familiar sign for "Phil's Countryside Adventure," as well as a metal map depicting their location and the surrounding woodlands, with a large red star indicating the stop for Heretic's Hollow.

"Well, let's get going," Ieyatsu muttered, beginning to walk towards a seemingly random bit of roadside thicket. The younger boy followed hesitantly, wondering if they'd have to hack their way through; to his immense relief he saw that the other boy had spotted an entrance of sorts among the trees with a tiny trail snaking along the ground, mostly grassed-over but still there.

Even with the grace of the small opening, the initial path proved difficult to wander through with the dense underbrush clustering around them. Tsuna found himself constantly having to pull his cloak from bushes and low trees where it had snagged in the gripping branches. Disconcertingly, Ieyatsu appeared to be having no such problem, practically gliding through with a steady ease. Tsuna envied him for his grace. He tried removing the troublesome cape, but found that he became the victim of the trees instead, gaining a few scratches for his futile effort. With a sigh, he drew the cloak back around himself and hugged it as tightly to his body as possible.

He moaned. It hadn't been even half an hour and he was already tired of this ridiculous quest. He noticed they were gradually trudging uphill, the gradient incredibly slight but still there. More worrying was the fact that Ieyatsu had pulled ahead of him, the distance constantly growing. He didn't want to bother the other boy, who seemed so concentrated on the task of navigating the thick woods and keeping track of the dwindling trail. He tried speeding up his pace to match the other's, drawing near before growing tired and falling behind again.

It didn't really matter though, right? As long as the blond stayed in his sights, he wouldn't get lost. For not having been in the area before, Ieyatsu showed an incredible amount of aptitude for traveling through their immediate vicinity. He didn't seem bothered at all by the obstructing trees. It made him wonder why it was the other needed someone proven useless like Tsuna to go along with him.

Eventually the gradual slope of the landscape gave way to a steep hike, the trees growing sparser in-between, but the path entirely disappearing. Ieyatsu took large, loping steps, leaving Tsuna to shuffle behind and attempt to keep up; he was almost like a man possessed, refusing to look back even as Tsuna fell several times. Gone was the unhurried, seemingly care-free Ieyatsu from the bar.

Tsuna panted, hard-pressed to keep moving forward as his worn sneakers skidded on a wad of fallen leaves and he almost tumbled again. He felt hot and sticky, despite the cool green cast by the forest around them; he wanted nothing more than to plead with Ieyatsu to stop his ceaseless advancement, though the words died on his dry, chapped lips each time as he felt his air-supply dwindling and he lost his nerve.

Ahead, Ieyatsu crested over the top of the rise, stopping for a brief second, long enough to let Tsuna raise the tiny hope that they'd finally come to a well-deserved break, before plunging down the other side. Tsuna let out a sigh and stumbled along. He was too far behind now; the other had gone out of sight. His muscles burned with exertion and sweat kept dripping into his eyes. How long had they been going for?

He reached the top of the climb, stood in the same place as the blond, and looked down. It almost appeared to be a ridge of sorts he was standing on, falling in a steep gradient, just as the other side had. More trees obscured his vision. Ieyatsu was nowhere in sight.

Tsuna sunk to the ground, taking in deep breaths to try and settle his racing heart. This was hopeless. He wondered if Ieyatsu was close enough that he'd still be able to yell for him. He allowed himself to lie on the ground, letting the sweat cool on his frame. He knew it was bad to be doing nothing about finding the other boy, but he really couldn't think beyond the next panting breath. He had no stamina, something that had been evident to him at S.A.G.E., though it had never seemed like much of a problem until now.

Once his heart had calmed he pulled himself up, though his calves and knees felt like jelly. He stared down at the drop again; he had to go where Ieyatsu was, and the older boy had probably moved with ease at this point… He took a careful step down, then another. Pine needles and old leaves shifted under his feet. He drew in a deep breath, took another step. Again. And again. Then his luck ran out as he made for another; he tripped as loose earth came out from under him, rolling down the hill and hitting various hard roots and rocks and piles of putrefying forest debris on the way. It seemed to be forever, Tsuna screaming and unsure of his surroundings as his hood wrapped around his head and blinded him, which was why he didn't see the tree coming. He slammed into it, fast and strong enough to knock the breath out of him.

He immediately tried to gasp in air, but his lungs felt as though they'd flattened to the back of his ribcage and wouldn't open again. He kept trying, tendrils of panic licking at his mind until finally the smallest of breaths were taken in and he gradually learned to inhale again. He lay still, just drawing in breath after precious breath, until finally he curled into himself and clutched at the trunk of the tree that'd broken his fall, ragged gulping turning into tiny sobs.

He wanted to cry, but he couldn't dredge up the tears to do so, instead clenching his eyes shut against the throbbing pain all over his body. Of course. Of course it had to turn out that way. No-Good Tsuna strikes again; can't even walk down a hill right. Why was he even here? Why was he even bothering when he knew it was no use; that he was no use?

He thought about lying there until he maybe died, or something. It would be so much easier that way. As long as he didn't move, the world couldn't get him. Right?

He let himself soak up the quiet of the forest, trying not to think of anything more complex than how uncomfortable the rock digging into his temple was.

He had been in this position before. Defeated and on the ground, while his classmates filed out from the training grounds. The teachers marked red F's on their sheets and turned away. Not very different at all, except Kyoko wasn't there to come find him for dinner and patch up the bruises.

But, Kyoko wouldn't come this time. She was far away, living a life bright with possibilities and a perfect future; not here to bandage together the battered pieces of No-Good Crybaby Tsuna. No one would come for him.

Grudgingly, he picked himself up, wincing as he felt the forming bruises on his torso. No one would come for him. No one would help him. Now, just for now, he'd help himself.

He gripped the tree for balance and gathered his surroundings. He'd fallen a surprisingly long way before hitting anything substantial. He could just make out the bottom of the ridge in the distance. The slope had also lessened, enough so for easier traveling. He stumbled forward, praying he'd meet up with Ieyatsu soon, though it seemed unlikely with the amount of time he'd taken to rest and wallow in self-pity.

* * *

He could feel them calling him; tiny, vibrant pulses in a sea of intangible ethereality. It was maddening to be so close and yet so far. If he could just run more, move a bit _faster_, he could reach them.

He could not allow for them to fall into the hands of the Varia.

Ieyatsu pushed forward relentlessly, not minding as the sharp edges of trees snagged on his clothes and cut into his skin. Obstacles, that's all they were. They couldn't stop him; nothing at this god-forsaken place could.

That is, until he heard the screaming and realized that in the sphere of absolute silence that had engulfed the world, he could not register the noise of any other living being beyond the pounding of his own thoughts.

It was Tsuna; it had to be. He couldn't see the boy anywhere around him. Was he in danger? Did he need to go save the other boy?

But, he was so close…If he could just get to them, everything would be okay. Surely the life of one admittedly-useless boy was worth it, to ensure a future not beleaguered by _him_, that _upstart_.

A booming crash sounded in the distance, followed by another scream, and then an inhuman screech.

_"In all honesty, I'm probably about the most useless person you could find."_

"…_only a failure would try to help you."_

"_If you say so."_

Tsuna.

Could he really sacrifice the life of an innocent boy just to get some trinkets? Could he really just throw away what he found unnecessary in order to get what he wanted?

No. He wasn't _him_.

"The sky is vast. In order to fly, the wings of one will not fit the shoulders of another; the wind doesn't come when one calls; nor is the world ever without storms and rain," Ieyatsu smirked and began to run, towards Tsuna, and towards his chosen path.

* * *

The goings had been okay for a little while. Tsuna tried to remain on a straight path now that the tiny trail they had been following previously had evaporated into nothing but shoots of stiff grass and leaf-strewn dirt.

Everything seemed calm and quiet in the waning afternoon, not a single noise audible in the intense hush of the forest. Even his footsteps seemed muted among the detritus of past seasons. It was, in a sense, very pretty; with the light filtering through the trees to effuse the air with a golden glow and the sweet smell of summer wafting about, Tsuna couldn't help but wonder what was so bad about this place.

As he moved further in, the trees grew progressively taller and thicker, enough so that even when he stretched his neck to look to the sky, he couldn't register their tops. The light was also becoming shaded, dulled to a grey gloam, though it was still only four in the afternoon by his count.

Tsuna sighed and rested his back in the thick hollow of one of the trees' enormous roots. His feet ached, and despite going slower, he was still sweaty and tired. He wasn't even sure what he was supposed to be looking for, let alone where Ieyatsu could be. Was Heretic's Hollow the forest? Or were they going to a specific place? He hadn't really thought to ask the other boy, trusting in the other to not lead him astray. But, now…

He really wished he'd brought a map (not that he could figure out where he was, anyways). Speaking of supplies, he was slightly worried about having all of Ieyatsu's equipment in his bag. What if the other ran into trouble and needed anything?

That thought in mind, he pulled himself up from his impromptu chair, dusting his cloak free of any clinging leaves and dirt. He let out another bone-weary sigh and began moving again, shuffling his feet along the ground to dredge up some sort of sound in the now eerily quiet air. Usually he'd appreciate such a nicety, seeing as places like S.A.G.E. and home had incredibly packed quarters that always held a minimum level of static din. This silence, though, was something else. It raised the hairs on his neck and had him looking over his shoulders in paranoia.

Something pricked at the back of his mind, a tiny, nagging voice; listening to it, he stopped dead, just at the entrance of a relatively open circle of ground. The air felt peculiar, musty with a different sort of scent beyond the earthy smells of wood and grass.

A quiet shuffling.

Tsuna looked to his feet, only to confirm that he indeed wasn't moving in the still. He turned his head back to look behind him, saw nothing, but the moment he moved, the sound of ruffled earth ceased. He gulped and turned his head back again, waited for a minute, then heard the quiet shuffle begin once more. He shot his head back; caught a glimpse of something sliding behind one of the enormous trees, a nubby tail, almost indistinguishable from a root.

"Oh no…oh no…oh no…ohnononono," he whimpered. He faced where the tail had disappeared, prayed that it was his imagination. He waited for another minute, but heard no more of the traumatic shuffling; only the intermittent creaking of tree branches from a breeze that could not reach the innards of the forest. He squirmed for a second, unsure what to do. Investigate? Stay still? Run away?

The third option sounded best. Making sure to keep facing the tree hiding his might-be stalker, he stumbled backwards, into the clearing. The musky scent increased as he made his way further in. He allowed his eyes to wander as he slowly trekked across the small field. It was odd; the trees had slash marks, and gashes lined the ground. Another step back took him into a tall patch of grass, the razor-blade tips of which slid delicately along his arms, pressing nerve-wrackingly into his skin but not beyond the surface.

A loud crack caught his attention, coming somewhere from behind. He whipped around, forgetting the astute sharpness of the turf, unmindful of the thin slice etched into his forearm in favor of stumbling over something much more solid and worrisome.

He lay on his back, uncomfortable feel of rocks digging into his backside. He no longer had to think about the grass, half of which he'd crushed harmlessly in his fall. The opening revealed a rusted sword, dug deeply into the ground, foot-long hilt and a few inches of rusted blade the only parts visible. Tsuna blinked curiously at the marvel; it was covered in dirt and what he assumed to be rust stains. He tried sitting up to examine it more closely, only to stop as his hand landed on something decidedly more round and without the consistent texture of stone.

He lifted the strange mass into his line of sight, only to start cringing and stuttering at the yellowed, eyeless skull, jowl missing and browning patches of flesh clinging to its smooth exterior here and there.

He screamed and threw it behind him, scrambling back on his bottom to get away from the patch of grass, only to see the similar remains of most of the rest of the skeleton, tatters of moldy clothes and other indistinguishable _things_ that had him gagging and spitting out bile scattered about from his fall.

"Oh my aeons, aeons… please, great spirits if you could save me…," **(3)** he whispered out, fighting to his feet and turning to run, only to be met with the disfigured face of a rat, maws wide as it shot forward to clamp jagged green teeth into his arm.

He howled, voice petering into a sob as the demon tugged its head, dragging him by his bleeding limb across the ground. It shook its muzzle, releasing a grating squeal to blend in with his raw, interminable screams as he clawed at the stiff bark-textured snout, fingernails breaking along the rough expanse and splintering in his fingertips. He could feel his skin and muscle tearing, pulled by the leaf-green fangs as they ravaged his arm, shaking him about like a rag-doll.

In his useless struggling, he managed to dig into the creature's surprisingly soft nose with his jagged nails, squeezing the digits in with all his might. A shriek flew out of the monster's throat; it slung him away, shaking its whole body as it rocked about. From what Tsuna could see in his tear-blurred vision, the rat had incredibly long, branch like limbs that extended down quite a ways from the surrounding tree trunks, almost like a spider, with skin the texture of rough bark. Brown and rugged, it blended in perfectly with its surroundings. Even its teeth resembled green leaves, aligned in oblique bunches to tear and shred.

The moment he'd been released, Tsuna quieted, lying stunned as his flayed limb rested limply in his vision. He stared at the arm, breath hitching, until the thought occurred to him that he had to move, had to get away.

He pushed himself with his feet, clambering up with his shaky good arm, allowing his left to hang loosely in the fold of his cloak. He panted, looking around wildly and running for the first clear space he could see in the opposite direction of the howling rat. He felt dizzy and amazingly coherent at the same time, adrenaline pumping in his veins, even as it drained out of him just as quickly.

He dashed, making it past the tree line and back into the thick of the forest, inhuman cries still reaching his ears. He prayed to every aeon and divine star he could think of to keep the creature from following after, but was disappointed when he heard the cracking of branches behind him. The monster was coming, moving along the tree trunks with fluid ease. It'd outrun him at this rate; he could already feel his stamina draining, making way for a heady feeling of numbness. He stumbled, almost fell, then spotted the blessing of a small hollow in the roots of a tree.

He dove for it, surprised to find that it went deeper than he expected, engulfing him entirely in its chasm. It was dark, without much room, but he wormed his way through and slid to the very rear of the den, cool dirt on his back and massive roots cocooning him. He wanted to sob with relief, but kept himself to quiet gulps of air. He tried to calm his unsteady breathing and wrapped his cloak tightly along his arm, hoping that it might help stem the unrelenting flow.

He could still here the creaking of tree-limbs outside, thrashing and breaking as a minute, two minutes, three, ticked by in eons instead of seconds. He thought it had finally given up when the clamor seemed to have quieted, until, in the still, he heard the familiar shuffling of dirt. It grew louder and louder, pausing every now and then to be replaced with a wet, staccato snuffling. He held his breath and curled in on himself.

What if it found him? What would he do, trapped in a hole and light-headed from blood-loss? Could he attack it? Was he even able to attack? Even in the best of circumstances, his offensive spells fell far from the mark, lapping into mediocre with the rate they backfired on him.

He started whispering, pushing his hand out from his huddled form in an upwards-facing clenched fist, "_Igneus Subluceo_…_Igneus_ _Subluceo_…_Igneus_ _Subluceo_…"

A tiny glow formed, filtering through the cracks in his fingers with a warm, golden light. He let out an allayed sigh. It was his best spell for the fact that it almost never backfired on him, even if it was incredibly weak. Despite that, the rat's nose seemed incredibly sensitive, being hurt merely by his mindless clawing; if he could get his hand around it again without getting it bitten off, he might be able to scare it away. The glow was supposed to be able to heat up metal immediately and, in some circumstances, even begin melting it, all the while protecting the magic-user from the heat with an underlying protective layer.

This was his only hope.

Even as he thought this, the sudden sound of snuffling reached his ears, not ten feet away from his hide-away. It almost reminded him of death knells; he felt the intense urge to laugh then, hysteria shaking his hand and filling his eyes with tears. Now's not the time to think about how stupid it is that a rat's gonna kill a mouse, he hissed internally.

The familiar shuffle-snuffle became even louder as it drew near, until at last its head passed by the slightly elevated entrance, moving its snout methodically across the ground. It seemed to take another step forward, sniffing some more. Tsuna almost thought it would pass right by him, up until what he could see of the creature stiffened, immediately twisting about with a sharp squeal as it stuffed its head into the hole's entrance, spitting rancid globules of sap-like spittle over his huddled form.

He hesitated only a moment, waiting for its muzzle to lower and stop baring its teeth as it nosed around. Sights illuminated by the golden glow seeping out of his hand like a bright candle, he shot his hand out, slapping the palm square over the squishy, slightly bloody snout and pouring all of his strength into the spell.

The rat howled, the screech deafening to Tsuna's ears; it thrashed about, trying to pull out of the tight hole. He held onto the nose with all he could, even slinging his rent arm out to clamp his hand further along the muzzle and what he could feel of its beady eyes, screaming the _Igneus Subluceo_ incantation over and over again.

With a bellow the creature finally removed its head, dragging Tsuna roughly along, only to begin violently shaking its entire body to rid itself of the burning pest in the open.

"TSUNA!"

The shout, along with its familiar owner, startled Tsuna, enough to have him loosen his already weakening grip and be flung into an adjacent tree, sliding down roughly to the ground. The rat continued its thrashing and screaming. It slapped its thick, nubby tree root of a tail against the ground as it lowered itself, dragging its face in the dirt in an attempt to cool the singed skin.

Tsuna could only stare, dazed, as Ieyatsu ran in front of him. The blond looked like he had run for miles, panting to catch his breath. On his forehead, a bright orange, almost golden, flame danced. His gloves were also aflame with the same fire. He looked different, somehow sharper and more defined than usual, his stance that of a trained warrior; he reeked of power.

"You okay?" he turned and asked, voice soft but no less empowered. His eyes had morphed from the crystal-clear blue of skies to a molten amber, capturing Tsuna's gaze easily.

He could barely register the question, but when he did, he tried immediately to hide his flayed arm, movements thick from exhaustion and palms stinging with blisters. He had been so focused on burning that the heat had broken through his insignificant layer of protective magic and managed to burn him slightly.

Ieyatsu observed him, outwardly impassive, but eyes lingering over the other's red-spattered form laying prone on the ground. "I'm sorry," he whispered, though the words rung strangely over the subsiding cries of the monster.

With that he turned, thrusting his mantle aside to raise a fiery fist, gaze narrowing at the singed face of the creature. Whatever Tsuna had done set the creature on fire, bark-skin sloughing off in embers as it slowly spread. He shot forward, disappearing to the naked eye and reappeared over the monster, shattering one if its long legs like a toothpick with a well-placed punch. The creature howled again, swinging down as it lost one its four supports.

He did the same for its other front limb, jumping away as it toppled to the ground, only to slide out of range as its large tail swung out and narrowly missed his legs. Forced to the ground, the monster writhed, attempting to lever itself up again on its stubs. When Ieyatsu saw that it was steadily drawing closer to Tsuna he ran, leaping onto the creatures back with ease and making for the thick trunk of neck. It thrashed, trying to throw his body off, though he would have none of it and clamped his legs around its shoulders. He clubbed the thick spinal column with his fists, pressing with growing enthusiasm as the monster squealed and endeavored to roll around; stopped as Ieyatsu's foot touched the ground and acted as a picket to bar the rat from moving.

With petering cries it stilled under his assault, falling limp to the ground. He cracked into the broken neck a few more times to ensure that it was truly dead, then hopped off, flames and fiery eyes disappearing to be replaced with weary frame and watery blue.

He stumbled over to Tsuna, who'd managed to pull himself up against the roots of the large tree he rested under, staring with disbelieving eyes as he approached. He was trembling, curling backwards as he knelt in front of him, cupping the boy's blood-mottled chin in his warm fingers.

"Forgive me," he murmured, stroking wet bangs from his features.

Tsuna sniffled, curling his hand in the front of Ieyatsu's vest, "You came…you came b-back for m-me."

Ieyatsu gulped and pushed forward to engulf him in an embrace, only to hear Tsuna cringe and scoot away. Confused at the way Tsuna hid the left side of his torso, he grabbed the thin shoulder and twisted it around, ignoring Tsuna's incoherent protests. The arm was torn and ripped, bone visible in bloody patches, gore steadily dripping down the useless limb. He could also see the other's hands, swollen and inflamed with massive blisters. As he looked further down, he made out a broken ankle, and bruises forming beyond the tears in tattered clothes that stuck to open gashes.

Tsuna shuddered and whined, trying to pull away and hide further in his cloak. Ieyatsu could feel the back of his eyes burning, and something had taken to clogging his throat; he swallowed and immediately retrieved the battered but still miraculously intact messenger bag at Tsuna's side. He unbuckled the clasp and flipped it open, reaching in and praying he could find what he needed. He didn't know how Tsuna retrieved things, only preying that by fervently thinking about what he needed he could obtain it. To his relief he felt his fingers come in contact with a few glass bottles among the stark emptiness of the bag's interior; he grasped them and tentatively pulled the delicate glass out, worried as Tsuna's thrashing subsided into listless moaning.

The liquid inside the round-bottomed flasks emitted an orange luminescence, beads of light floating around in the thin syrup like fireflies. Sol Solis philters were of the highest caliber in curatives, holding miraculous healing properties strong enough to waken people from brain-damaged stupors and reattach lost limbs. He pulled out the cork stoppers and set to pouring one of the bottles down Tsuna's throat, rubbing the column to get the other to swallow. Once the sweet essence completely departed the bottle, he poured the other container over Tsuna's rent arm, watching in relief as muscle regenerated and skin stitched together. The boy's twisted ankle reset itself in the proper position, the blisters burst, melting to nothing, and the bruises mottling his skin quickly faded out of sight.

Tsuna, meanwhile, sat still, a feeling of euphoria washing over him as the medicine hid the painful process from his mind until at last the honeyed haze cleared and he could pull his head to the side to stare up at Ieyatsu, whose smile stretched across his face in the widest grin he'd seen on the other boy. He lifted his hand in wonder, turning the tired but otherwise perfectly fine limb back and forth, eyes skimming over the unpleasant patches of blood.

"I-I'm okay…," he muttered, flexing his fingers in wonder. He thought he'd be crippled for sure, the limb needing to be amputated.

Ieyatsu laughed and hugged him tightly to his chest, nuzzling into the other's hair, "That's great! That's really great!" He pulled the boy away to look into his eyes. "I thought I might have been too late. But you…you really held on!"

He laughed and pulled the other up, squeezing him tightly like a long-lost toy. Tsuna choked, air supply cut off. Hearing the other's distress, Ieyatsu immediately let go, wincing as Tsuna thumped onto the ground, boneless.

"Sorry!" he shouted, quickly crouching and grabbing him again, only to swing him onto his back. Tsuna let out a moan at the all the sudden motion and clung to Ieyatsu's sturdy frame. It felt impossible to walk, his body drained from all of the previous stress and exertion, so he didn't really mind being carried, though he felt bad for his companion. Ieyatsu didn't seem to mind either, easily beginning to the slain beast crumpled on the forest floor. Its head lolled to the side, tongue hanging out and beady eyes wide in pain, neck bent and broken. Long, branch-like limbs fell helter-skelter around its body.

Ieyatsu walked around to the back, where the tail hung out like a putrid root. To Tsuna's surprise and disgust, the other gripped the thick tail at the base and bent back, earning a snap as it came away easily.

"Tsuna, could you put this in your bag?" Ieyatsu grunted.

"Ah, what? Why?" he yelped, disgusted by the mere thought.

"Heh, guess it is gross. Don't worry, though. This thing is made out of a very rare wood. It would be foolish to pass the opportunity by to take it. This is also the largest Treerat I've ever seen," Ieyatsu said, letting slip a small 'thank you' as Tsuna pushed his bag, still open from his previous ministrations, forward. He opened the bag wide and slid the limb, surprisingly bloodless and stiff now, into its seemingly infinite depths. "It's also great that it doesn't really smell or bleed after the thing is dead, right?"

Tsuna nodded slightly, but then tilted his head in confusion, "Treerat? You know what that thing is?"

"That? Yeah," Ieyatsu walked back to the front of the beast, stopping to crouch at its gaping maw. He easily broke the tongue apart, throwing it aside before beginning to snap off the various green, leaf-shaped teeth in its mouth. "There are Treerats where I live. Well, I guess everywhere, really." Tsuna blanched at the thought. "They're mostly small things, the largest normally being as big as you. This guy, on the other hand, is massive. Never seen one get so huge."

Ieyatsu examined one of the snapped teeth, holding it up to the dimming sunlight filtering past the massive tree trunks. It sparkled dully, the green tint slowly fading into clear, glass-like monotony. "Really good quality…," he muttered, placing it into his growing pile. He continued on with his explanation, "Treerats are creatures born of supernal energy and the tainted spirit of a tree. Usually when horrid deeds are committed under trees that have been blessed with spirits, the dark energy taints the tree, and, if the tree has the power to absorb the surrounding ethereality, it'll transform into things like this Treerat, or worse.

"They usually survive by sucking up their prey's magic, and that's done by drinking the blood. From what I know, they use their tails to stab their victims in the gut, then draw in the blood until there's nothing left. Really gruesome stuff."

Tsuna shivered and tightened his grip around Ieyatsu's shoulders.

"They have really poor eyesight, but their noses are great; they smell blood from half a mile away, I hear."

"Ah, so that's why…," Tsuna muttered, eyeing the blood on his arm. He must have started bleeding somewhere, probably the same as the skeleton back in that clearing. Speaking of which—"Hey, uh, Ieyatsu?"

"Yeah?"

"Could we go to this clearing for a bit? It's a little ways back, but there's, ah, something there…"

Ieyatsu nodded, finished plucking all of the teeth; he picked up the pile and slid it into Tsuna's bag, folding the top over again and buckling it closed. "Which way?"

Tsuna pointed and Ieyatsu followed, continuing on with his explanation, "Because they have so many nerves in their noses for smelling, their snouts are usually extremely sensitive. It's its greatest weakness. Come to think of it, Tsuna, its nose was really beaten up. Did you do that?"

He blushed and hid his head in the other's neck, remembering his mad scramble at the very beginning, perhaps not even an hour ago, "Y-yeah. It was in the clearing. It got me by the arm and I was just flailing around. But, I grabbed its nose and pressed down really hard, and it let me go. I ran off and hid in that hole in the tree, back there—" he pointed behind him, "When it found me again, I used an _Igneus Subluceo_ spell on its nose…"

"With your hands?" Ieyatsu spat, stopping dead in his tracks to stare at Tsuna, "With your _bare_ hands? Are you crazy?"

"Ah, uh—"

"Do you know how _dangerous_ that is? I thought you had some sort of protection tucked away into that little bag of yours, but—but!" Ieyatsu cut himself off, shaking his head in exasperation. He remained quiet as they trudged within sight of the clearing. Tsuna could make out the recent signs of struggle; churned up earth and broken branches, as well as a few smears of blood on the ground. The air thickened with tension, drying his throat into sandpaper.

He could make out the scowl on Ieyatsu's face, though he wasn't sure why the other was so upset. He spoke tentatively, "Are you angry?"

The other stiffened, then relaxed all the muscles in his body, letting Tsuna slide down his back and make shaky contact with the ground, "I figured you were some type of magic-user; right?"

"Yeah," he muttered. He walked with unsteady feet towards the flattened patch of grass and slumped to his knees, gathering the bones of the fallen warrior. Ieyatsu watched him, moving from foot to foot until he spotted a skull lying off to the side. He grasped it, then walked back over to the busy magic-user, placing it on top of the pile of bones when it seemed the other had finished fishing them out of the grass.

Tsuna stared at the pile contemplatively, then shoved it aside as he began to paw at the dirt, digging a hole.

"Why don't you have a conductor, or at least some gloves?"

He paused in his ministrations, straightening his back before setting to work again, "I…Can't really use them well…When I said…that I was a useless person…last night…"

"That's not true, you know—"

"I know!" Tsuna bit his lip, fighting back the familiar lead weight dropping his heart to his stomach. "I just graduated from Salence's Academy for the Genesic Empyrean. It's a school that allows even kids with the bare minimum of magic required to light a candle to go and study there. I'm not talented, or powerful. I'm completely average in every way, even below average in a lot of cases…"

He could hear Ieyatsu sucking in breath to interrupt him again, but immediately cut him off, "They call me No-Good Tsuna. Do you know what that means?"

"I don't need to! It's a lie, Tsuna—"

"It means that whatever I do, whatever I try, I always fail! I am useless in every aspect," Tsuna said, voice unwavering though the words hammered into his chest with a hot viciousness. He wiped his eyes with his arm, rubbing sweat away as he continued digging a small pit. Ieyatsu quieted, waiting for him to continue, though his face looked uncomfortable, as though he wished he could just erase the situation. "But…somehow, I managed to get past that school. Somehow, I thought that things would really be different for me now that I'm on my own. But, it isn't. I left home a week ago, jobless, apprenticeship-less. This was the only application I could get, _escorting_ you, and I still couldn't do it right.

"I don't know what to do, Ieyatsu. No one's ever believed in me, _relied_ on me to this extent. I've never even relied on myself; always taking the easy way out and giving up. And, y'know, a part of me is _okay_ with that. But another part of me just tells me to keep trying, even if it's hard. So do I?"

He started placing bones delicately into the hole, topping them with the skull reverently, then began sweeping dirt into the grave.

Ieyatsu knelt next to him, holding his shoulder and packing the earth alongside him. He was smiling.

He stood after the deed was finished, wiping grimy hands on his pants before hoisting Tsuna up on his wobbly legs. The cloaked boy bent, grabbing onto the hilt of the sword still embedded into the ground, straining as it stuck until Ieyatsu joined once more and pulled with him, sliding the weapon out with a metallic sching.

Ieyatsu lifted it with ease, examining the detailed hilt and dirty blade, still smiling, "What are you doing right now?"

Tsuna looked down, confused, then opened his mouth, "Uh…"

"Rhetorical. It's hard, isn't it? Moving and talking right now? It was hard to keep fighting when you were injured and scared, right? Yet, here you are. It's the trying that matters, Tsuna. As long as that feeling still burns with you and pushes you forward, you are not useless."

He held the sword up to catch the light of the sun. Despite its grimy appearance, it gleamed elegantly in Ieyatsu's hands, a majestic greatsword in the hands of a knight.

"Don't think you're alone, either. You will find people on your journey who you'll come to love and cherish, and whom will come to love and cherish you. They'll help you, and together you'll find you can be invincible. Kay?" he smiled and flipped the sword, easily grabbing the dull blade and pointing the hilt at Tsuna.

The boy stared at the other in wonder and slight admiration, scrunching his mouth into a tiny smile as he took hold of the heavy sword. It immediately tipped forward, too heavy for him to keep aloft, until Ieyatsu grabbed it again and held on.

"It feels good, right?" Ieyatsu murmured. "Lifting something so heavy, even if you need help. The help makes it better, even. Team spirit and all, yeah?"

Tsuna smiled and nodded slightly. The other smirked, "Let's make a promise on this sword."

"What?"

"A promise. An oath. Alright?"

"O-okay," Tsuna tightened his grip. "What should we swear?"

"Let's promise to…always be friends."

"Okay."

"To always walk our own paths, with our own hearts."

"F-fine…?"

"And, to always, _always_ keep trying."

Ieyatsu smiled, Tsuna quickly following suit, and let go of his end. Tsuna sputtered out a small, surprised 'hii!' as the full weight hit him and he staggered, but the greatsword remained steady in his hands.

"See? You're already stronger!" Ieyatsu laughed. He pulled Tsuna's bag from his side and opened it, taking the sword from the younger boy and sliding it in. He felt a bit bad about taking a fallen warrior's sword, but he felt it was necessary, and now of better use to Tsuna as a symbol and a reminder.

The two stood in comfortable silence afterwards, basking in the late sun. The long evenings of the summer allowed for light to remain well into the periods after noon, and wouldn't disappear for a couple more hours.

Eventually though, Tsuna fell out of his quiet stupor, smile still plastered on his face, "What do we do now?"

"I honestly don't know. Can't figure out where we are, at all," Ieyatsu muttered, looking around. A thought struck him and he bit his lip, suddenly feeling ashamed. He immediately knelt in the dirt before Tsuna, staring up apologetically.

"Please forgive me for running off earlier. I don't know what came over me."

"I-it's alright, just stand up, please!" Tsuna yelped out. He's so eccentric, he thought.

"It's just, the moment we came to this forest, I've felt what I've been seeking. It washed over me, robbing me of sense and awareness. All I could think of was reaching the middle of the forest, holding no regard to your safety or my own. I'm so sorry!" He bowed even more deeply. Tsuna began flailing as Ieyatsu's nose almost touched the ground.

"Okay, okay! I forgive you!" The other boy stood, smiling, before squeezing Tsuna into a tight embrace.

"I do have a hunch as to what is going on, though," he continued, releasing the slightly smaller boy. "This forest holds an incredible amount of ethereality, enough so to give it complete control over its domain, a sort of consciousness and will."

Tsuna blinked, confused, "Are you saying Heretic's Hollow is…toying with us?"

"…I don't think so. It's more like…like…tests! Yes, it's like it's testing us. Do you know why we're here?"

"Uh, not really."

Ieyatsu scratched his head sheepishly, "Sorry again. Anyways, Heretic's Hollow is a place where 'lost objects are found.' It is a living, breathing temple, blessed by the great aeons and spirits. If you've lost something your heart truly desires, it will appear here. I thought it would be as simple as walking in and finding it, but I guess there's more to it.

"I think there are trials we have to go through, like proving we're worthy to receive the blessed gifts bestowed upon us here. The Treerat must have been part of it, I'm sure."

"What makes you say that?" Tsuna asked. It was already a lot of information to take in; he was having trouble filing it all away.

"Not to sound conceited, but I think it's aimed towards me, since I'm the one looking for what I've lost. When I was in that obsessed trance state, I heard your screaming. A part of me wanted to continue looking, but another wanted me to come after you. For a second, I was actually going to abandon you—"

"Thanks."

"But I didn't! I couldn't; I couldn't allow for you to die, just to have my way. I think I did the right thing by choosing you."

Tsuna blushed while Ieyatsu reached out to pat his head, "Great of you to think of me. But, if that's the case, if we're really being put through some trial crap, what do we do now? The trail we were following was lost a long time ago."

"And that's where me thinking it was right to choose you comes in! Look!" Ieyatsu spun Tsuna around, facing towards a wide opening in the circle of trees surrounding the clearing. It was a path paved in cobblestones, gently canopied by massive tree branches. It had never been there before, appearing out of thin air. He could only gape in shock.

"C'mon, Tsuna. This has to be the way! Pass a trial, another road opens for us!" Ieyatsu clamped a hand on Tsuna's shoulder and began to lead him forward. The boy was left to stutter in shock as he was dragged along.

He couldn't believe there was still more to come. Everything so far had been one, measly test. His spirit shriveled a little at the thought.

Could he really make it past another hardship? If the time arose, would he be capable of standing for Ieyatsu?

The thoughts dampened his will to move forward, even as the pair stepped onto the cobbled pathway.

Could he keep moving forward?

Tsuna thought of the sword, tucked safely away, and smiled. He would try.

**

* * *

(1)** Super glue! How many ways do you think I can find to rename modern conveniences so as not to invoke copyright infringement and remain in-universe? Let's keep count!

**(2)** Note how he completely avoids answering the question. He doesn't know either. XD Nor do I.

**(3)** I'm trying to avoid saying any true religions. This story's lore is based around spirits and deities, but nothing really specific, unless the story calls for it. They're gonna be all my own, since it's a pain to find references (aka I'm a lazy asshole). They're mostly for explaining magic-related things, anyways, which no one really cares about, right?

**

* * *

GLOSSARY**

_Perambulāre_: A city on the coastline. Mostly used for transit due to its convenient location, having its own docks, airdome, vehicular rental services, and is relatively close to a train station. Travelers and mercenaries gather here to find employment.

_Phil's Countryside Adventure_: (ahaha, will the fun never stop?) Who wouldn't want a rousing bus ride in the country? What's so exciting? We may never know, since we've already gotten off.

_Ethereality_: Just as the world has an atmosphere of air, so is there an encompassing sphere of ambient magic. Those who are trained can often perceive the waves and tides of the ethereality, and sense otherwise invisible entities, some of them friendly, and others not so much.

_Aeons and Great Spirits_: Celestial entities that can affect the ebb and flow of magic in the world. Generally plead to for help by magic-users and those who are in the loop. Though they used to be known well, knowledge of such beings have fallen to only those who study the dwindling supply of anthologies about the past.

_Philter_: (Ahaha here we go again! Another renaming!) A magic potion that generally acts as an extremely effective curative. There are several levels to these philters, with millions of variations. But, not all classes of philters are good.

_Sol Solis Philter_: (Latin: sun) A sun philter, one of the highest levels. Due to its high quality, it's rather expensive. Generally orange in color, it holds a faint luminescence with lampyrid-esque beads of coagulated magic.

_Treerat_: A being born from the tainted soul of a tree absorbing the surrounding ethereality. It holds the appearance of a rat made of tree bark, with a mouth full of incredibly sharp, crystalline teeth in the shape of leaves. Its limbs are long, acting as spider leg-like levers as it attacks from trees. It relies on its powerful sense of smell, and is drawn to the blood of its prey, which it sucks away to gather strength. The tail is made of a rare wood, and its teeth are remarkably good magic conductors and are sought after by fashion-oriented people.

_Greatsword_: a heavy, long, and powerful sword.

_Heretic's Hollow_: A section of woods off the Drover's road. The ethereality here is so stagnant and powerful it seems to have taken on a life of its own. The woods are enchanted, seeming to have a mind of its own as it plays with travelers passing through. A trial is set, often involving a moral choice made by a traveler seeking the Hollow's riches. The ethereality affects all creatures within the woods, morphing and shaping them into powerful monsters or even sentient beings. (_More information to be added._)

**

* * *

ACHIEVEMENTS** (you bet I'm gonna have frickin' fun with this)

Tsuna has gotten lost!

Ieyatsu leaves the party!

Tsuna's self-confidence falls to -20!

Tsuna encounters a Treerat!

Ieyatsu rejoins the party!

The Treerat is defeated!

Tsuna gains three levels (gosh he's really weak)!

Tsuna obtains Tail of Treerat! Tsuna obtains Teeth of Treerat! Tsuna obtains Abandoned Greatsword!

**

* * *

CHARACTER STATS** (ahaha, a lot of fun)

**Tsunayoshi Sawada**

Character Class: (pathetic) magic-user

Level: 1—_up 3_ – 4!

HP: 20—_up 75_ -95! MP: 10—_up 30_ –40!

Stamina: pathetic Strength: pathetic Defense: walking target Intelligence: questionable

Equipment: Messenger Bag, Mouse-eared Cloak (jeez Tsuna, you have no protection at all)

Attacks: N/A

Spells:

_Igneus Subluceo_: (Latin: Igneous Glow) a weak attack that heats up the user's palms to super-high levels, sometimes enough to melt metal. Causes a red-gold glow to emanate from the hand. MP cost: 5

ooo

**Ieyatsu**

Character Class: ?

Level: ?

HP: ? MP: ?

Stamina: outlandish Strength: prodigious Defense: extraordinary Intelligence: ?

Equipment: 'I' Gloves, Mantle, ?, ?, ?

Attacks: ?

Spells: ?

* * *

I hate you. I hate you all. I hate everything that has ever come into existence. That is the loathing that radiates from this chapter into my tiny, garbage-compacted mind. I have severe writer's block for this story, well, this chapter in particular. Nothing would come out right. The characters are awful, the writing is choppy, and everything is rather uninspired before the rat decided to chew on Tsuna's arm like a toothpick, then gets worse immediately after Tsuna is flung away the first time. In fact, I was supposed to have this chapter have everything for Heretic's Hollow; go through the forest, fight ugly rat, go through (spoiler), defeat (spoiler), find (spoiler), then come back. As you might be able to tell, that would have extended the word count to well over 20,000 at my current rate; a whopping 11,500 for the chapter.

So, hopefully we'll finish up next time. And, ahaha, when did this story get so intimate with Ieyatsu and Tsuna? The pairing won't be them (maybe. For this story arc, anyways). Ieyatsu will soon disappear into oblivion. I've also decided to include a glossary of terms, since I realize some people might appreciate a little background knowledge on certain things. We will also get a character stats update every now and then.

Today's my birthday! I'm finally 18, which means I can attempt to get a gun and shoot my eye out (ahaha not really. Though I wish I could do something awesome like that)! Anyways, as my birthday gift to you guys, I have this super-long, boring chapter (what a crappy gift), and: ART! (slightly less crappy)

I've drawn this character art (done really fast and crappily), though it's only a rough idea (I think I'm pretty decent at drawing; not the best, but not the worst, either). It's not the mouse-eared cloak, but what he'll be wearing later on. Maybe. I'm not a character design genius, or good at all. If you guys have any ideas or suggestions, or even want to try coloring the art yourself (since I'm also awful at coloring), feel free to contact me at EcholonxLuvsxPudding (at) gmail. Com.

Pencil sketch, line art, and color versions can be found here: http:/s296. photobucket. com/ albums/ mm182/ TheDayDreamer-Relic/ KHR_Swallowed-the-Moon/

I might try some more art, if you guys like it. Anyways, this is now much, much too long. Please review! They're like birthday gifts to me. :) Pray I don't get my hands on a gun.


End file.
